Texans got ‘great’ one in Green
COLLEGE STATION — Kenyon Green's huge hands helped Texas A&M land its first first round NFL draft selection in five years.
His hands raised thousands of hearty meals to his mouth over the past few years. They grabbed thousands of pounds of weights in A&M'S Davis Players Development Center. And, nearly as important for the Texans' new offensive lineman, they clutched a remote control for hundreds of hours as he pored over plays.
“You focus on the little, detailed things in your game,” Green said of what in large part allowed him to stay in his hometown of Houston as an NFL firstrounder. “Especially watching film as a lineman, you can pick up on little things that defensive linemen and linebackers do to get an edge on them.
“And when you get that edge, you exploit it and you do your job.”
A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, too, mentioned Green's hands measuring 103⁄8 inches. By comparison the average hand size for the 39 quarterbacks chose in the draft's first round from 2008-20 was 9.7 inches, via ESPN Stats.
Fisher brought up the hands, however, primarily because they're attached to about 322 pounds of raw power and just down the arms from what he considers a brilliant football mind. The Texans chose Green, who grew up in Atascocita, with the No. 15 overall pick late last month. He followed defensive back Derek Stingley Jr. of LSU at No. 3 overall to Houston.
“You have a physical guy who's 6-foot-4 and 325 pounds and he can play
guard or tackle because he has an 83-inch wingspan,” Fisher said of Green. “That (wingspan) is like most tackles — guys who are 6-foot-6 or 6-foot-7. A lot of guys can (just) block you, but he can move the big guys and he's athletic enough to block the skill guys. That's a rare combination.
“Plus, he has that extra arm length and big hands, so that when he gets his hands on you, you may (think you) beat him and all of a sudden he gets that last push to protect (the quarterback).”
Green was Fisher's second five-star pledge in the coach's first full class of 2019, just behind defensive lineman Demarvin Leal of Judson. The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Leal in the third round of this year's draft.
The ever-gracious Green was a key addition to Fisher's early recruiting hauls because he helped get the Houston pipeline to College Station consistently flowing — one that has now resulted in the program's first firstround selection since defensive
end Myles Garrett of Arlington in 2017.
Ideally a lineman on either side of the line of scrimmage would have a year to acclimate to college life and the college game, especially playing in the NFL'S farm league of the SEC, but there was nothing ideal about the offensive line Fisher inherited five years ago when he arrived from Florida State.
In Fisher's second season at A&M of 2019, Green hopped right into the starting lineup just a few months removed from Atascocita and along the way played every position on the line.
“He started from the day he got here,” Fisher said of Green, who should do likewise with the Texans. “He's very talented, but even as gifted as he is that's the least thing (about him). It's his character, his intelligence, his work ethic, all the intangibles. I always tell our players let the intangibles — the choices you make about who you are — be what you live on and let your talent be the last thing you rely on.”
Fisher is typically publicly upbeat about all his players, former or current. But if there's one who perhaps didn't quite live up to the coach's expectations, Fisher will in part speak in generalities about the player and his future. He's painstakingly specific in his praise of Green.
“He's extremely talented, but he also has all those intangibles that a great player has and a great teammate has and a great person has,” said Fisher, in using “great” five times in 10 seconds to describe Green. “You combine that with great physical skills, and you have a great player, and that's what the (Texans) got.”
Fisher later added: “Houston got a tremendous player. … He'll play banged up, bruised. He checks all the boxes. You combine that with great athletic ability, and you have a great player. I'll be shocked if he doesn't have an unbelievable career in pro football.”