Nothing stopping Green's return

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Orlando Green picked up the fumbled ball and began to run for as much daylight as there can be on a gray day with the sky spitting a wintry mix, the end zone in sight if not for that dang official.
Thud.
Green, Arkansas' junior cornerback from Crossett, had run into a game official along the sideline, thus tackling himself after a 27-yard return against Mississippi State on Saturday.
"I know, I know," Green said, smiling about the collision. "I was trying to get him out of the way. If the official wouldn't have been there, I would have scored. I should have scored anyway."
Cut him a break. Green had played only a handful of snaps per game most of the season until starting against Mississippi State because redshirt freshman Eddie Jackson was out with a sprained neck.
It was a blissful return to full-time duty for Green, who was a regular on Arkansas' Citrus and Cotton bowl teams of 1998 and 1999.
Besides the third-quarter fumble return, Green scooped up a blocked field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter and returned it 15 yards. He also made two tackles.
Green made enough of an impression on co-coordinator John Thompson that he will start again when the Razorbacks (5-5, 2-5 SEC) play 24th-ranked LSU (7-3, 5-2) Friday in Little Rock.
Jackson likely will take the other cornerback position ahead of D'Andre Berry, who has started every game but appears to be wearing down. Berry will work as the nickel back.
Green can relate. Nickel back is where he spent part of the fall, and that was on the good days when he found the field for a few plays. The rest of the time he watched.
It was a water-in-the-face shock for Green, a demonstrative talker on the field who had started 14 games over the past two seasons. He turned in a solid performance in the 27-6 Cotton Bowl victory over Texas with four tackles and a sack and entered this season as the team's most experienced cornerback.
Then misfortune struck. More precisely, it pulled.
Green's hamstring gave way Aug. 23 and he missed the opener against Southwest Missouri State. He returned to practice Sept. 10 and played against Boise State six days later.
In a 38-31 victory over the Broncos, Jackson returned an interception for a touchdown and made the game-saving tackle at the 1-yard line in the final minute. Green was burned badly in giving up a 42-yard touchdown pass that tied the score 31-31 in the fourth quarter, and that essentially was the last anyone saw of Green for two months.
Jackson and Berry had entrenched themselves as starters.
"I won't lie," Green said. "In the beginning, I was real angry just at the fact that I thought I should be playing. I was used to being a starter. Nobody was making mistakes to push me back in there. I was kind of frustrated all year long."
Out of sight but not out of fans' Internet monitoring, Green became the subject of speculation that made its way back to the team. Tight end Nathan Ball flagged down Green last week with a leaf off the grapevine.
"Have you heard the e-mail rumors?" Ball asked Green. "You're supposed to be transferring after the year."
The rumor wasn't entirely off.
"Things crossed my mind every now and then," Green said, acknowledging that he thought about his transfer options. "But I don't know where the rumors came from because I didn't tell anybody."
Along the way, Green and Thompson had a few heart-to-heart sessions. Both men laid out their messages to other, but Thompson isn't sure that they were always received.
Ability? Thompson had no problem with that.
Green is 5-11, 205 pounds and dabbled on the track team as a true freshman.
"Orlando's got great skills," Thompson said. "He's got speed and strength. He's got instincts. He's just got to be more consistent."
Inconsistency and Jackson's development kept Green in the background, though he tried to prove his case each week in practice.
"The less I played, the more I competed," Green said.
When his chance finally came, Green responded in Arkansas' biggest victory of the year. Now he'll start again in Little Rock, where his season veered off under the War Memorial Stadium lights.
Green's goal of making the All-SEC first team was lost about that time, but that doesn't mean he can't finish with a surge, perhaps an interception or a key tackle that will carry him into the off-season.
You never know what you might run into when you're given a second chance.

This article was published on Wednesday, November 22, 2000

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