FORMER LAKE BRANTLEY and University of Cincinnati running back Tion Green finds a place with the Lions.
Former Lake Brantley star RB finds football pinnacle with Lions
Former Lake Brantley and University of Cincinnati running back Tion Green picked a great time to break loose on a 74-yard touchdown run in the Detroit Lions’ final preseason game.
Not that one play makes a difference, but it could have been just the edge Green needed when it came down to NFL cuts on Sept. 2. The Lions spared Green, keeping him as one of five running backs on their roster.
“I would say that probably kind of was the stamp because you get your opportunity and was like, ‘OK, I got my opportunity, only thing I can control is my attitude and my effort,’ ” Green said during the Lions’ media availability this past week. “You go into that week very confident. I knew what I was doing, I had a good supporting cast. Everybody in the weight room was supporting me and pushing me like, ‘Hey, you got your opportunity.’ So that fourth game was everything for me — on special teams, flying around — was just a good game.”
Green, a 6-foot, 220-pound rookie who graduated from Lake
Brantley in the class of 2012 and was the No. 7-ranked player in the Sentinel’s 2012 Central Florida Super 60, was one of a few local free agents to make an NFL roster. He didn’t make his NFL regular-season debut in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals, but it was accomplishment staying on the team’s roster.
He was quite nervous as it got closer to 4 p.m. on Sept. 2, the time he was told he would learn of his NFL status.
“Well, I called Ameer [Lions running back Abdullah]. I FaceTimed Ameer, I’m like, ‘Ameer it’s about 3:57 right now, do you think they would call me with three minutes left?’ Ameer was just like, ‘Tion, calm down. I’m going to come pick you up and get you out of the hotel; you’re going to be fine. You made it,’ ” Green said.
“So then after Ameer came over and got me it was about 4:05 and I’m like, ‘Are you sure they won’t call me?’ because you don’t want to get too above yourself. … It’s a humbling experience.”
His mother, Leticia Strickland, was back in the Orlando area awaiting the news, and she kept trying to contact her son to find out if he had heard anything.
“My mama kept calling. Every time the phone rang, I’m a little nervous. I’m like, ‘Ma, I love you, but you can’t keep calling me — like especially not from 3 to 4 p.m., you can’t call me,’ ” Green said. “So that was the only phone call. My mom kept calling, [saying,] ‘I’m Google-ing. I’m searching.’ I’m like, ‘Ma, just relax.’ I really like faced anxiety. I had to leave and go into [Lions receiver] Kenny Golladay’s room. I had to ask Kenny, ‘Can I just sit in your room by myself and just pray on stuff?’”
Of course, his mom was the first person he called once he learned he had officially made the Lions roster.
“Yes, I called my mom right away and just told her. And then, of course, she was like, ‘I knew you were going to make it.’ I was like, ‘C’mon.’ … But I called my mom right away, right, right away,” he said.
Green had an average career at Cincinnati, so he was happy to get his shot at the NFL when he earned an invite to training camp. He talked late last year about how his biggest accomplishment was graduating from college and he was a proud Cincy alumnus.
However, he did not give up on his dream of playing in the NFL. He led Cincinnati in rushing last season with 757 yards and scored two touchdowns. He also caught 29 passes for 167 yards.
“[I] didn’t have the best senior year in the world. I never was a 1,000-yard back in college. Never. I didn’t get a combine invite. I ran a 4.7 40[-yard dash]. … You get a little opportunity here in Detroit, so I thank God,” Green said. “I’m just living testimony and proof of never give up on your dreams, just keep working hard, and believing in yourself. And then anything’s possible.”
Drafted players defensive end Trey Hendrickson (Apopka/FAU) and linebacker/safety Matt Milano (Dr. Phillips/Boston College) also made NFL rosters as 2017 rookies, but those two players were expected to earn their spots.
Hendrickson was a third-round pick, and the 103rd player selected overall, by the New Orleans Saints in the April draft while Milano was picked in the fifth round, 163rd overall, by the Buffalo Bills.
Central Florida is represented by several veteran players already on NFL rosters, led by a pair of Pro Bowl selections last season in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (Dr. Phillips/Alabama) of the Green Bay Packers and Leonard Williams (Daytona Beach Mainland/ Southern Cal) of the New York Jets.
Former Clermont East Ridge receiver Andy Jones, who attended Jacksonville University, was cut by the Dallas Cowboys, but he was then claimed by the Houston Texans and opened the season on the Texans roster. He spent last season between the practice squad and the 53-man roster with the Cowboys.
Noted cuts among former local high school stars included Chris Johnson, a former Orlando Olympia and East Carolina running back who led the NFL in rushing with 2,006 yards while with the Tennessee Titans in 2009. Johnson was cut by the Arizona Cardinals.
Former Orlando Boone star Marvin Bracy, who made the 2016 U.S. Olympic team as a sprinter and had a brief college career at FSU, was cut by the Indianapolis Colts, and his cousin, Kermit Whitfield, a former Orlando Jones and FSU wide receiver, was cut by the Cincinnati Bengals. Whitfield, however, was signed to the Bengals practice squad.
Their former FSU teammate and Groveland South Lake product kicker Roberto Aguayo was cut by the Chicago Bears, but kickers have a tendency to find work in the NFL, so it likely will not be Aguayo’s last NFL shot.
Defensive lineman Corey Vereen, formerly of Winter Garden West Orange and Tennessee, was on injured reserve with the New England Patriots, but he was released on an injury settlement.