Huskers excited to see what Green can do on the practice field
Highland (Kan.) C.C. defensive lineman Jahkeem Green may have missed the first 10 practices of Fall Camp, but he still very much remains in the discussion for the 2019 season.
The hope is Green can be on the practice field Wednesday after getting medically cleared, and all bets are off on what type of role he could have for the Huskers in 2019.
Green signed his official Big Ten tender Monday after arriving in Lincoln Sunday evening.
"What he brings to the team is d-line depth," defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said of Green. "I’m sure he’ll challenge for a starting role. Just because he got here late, doesn’t mean he can’t be in that thing. He’s got to earn it just like everybody does, but definitely depth. He’s an inside guy that gives us some pass rush, some help against the run. I think that’s where he values at."
NU also has nearly two full weeks of "training camp" before classes begin on Aug. 26. During training camp, you have the team 12+ hours a day, which will be important in bringing Green up to speed.
"Once he can get with us, we’re going to try and use up as much time as we can," defensive line coach Tony Tuioti said. "Obviously, right now, to our advantage, we’re not restricted by the ’20 hours’ rule, so this is a great opportunity to catch up as much as he can to close the gap on guys. The first thing is getting himself in shape, but then he’s got to learn the playbook and the technique, so he’s got a lot of work to do to catch up.
"There’s a lot of practices and a lot of meetings that he’s missed, but we’ve got everything in place to try to help him close the gap so he can come out and help us because he’s definitely big and he’s athletic, so he’s someone that we can definitely use."
And from some of the early reports, he's come to Lincoln in fairly good shape.
"He carries 327 better than I do, I’ll let you know that," senior Darrion Daniels said of Green. "He looks pretty good, he came in he looks pretty solid. And it looks like he’s been running, too, kind of slim, lean."
The entire defensive line greeted Green with open arms when he got to Lincoln on Sunday night.
Several of the players took him out to dinner to make him feel welcomed to his new team. Now it's a matter of deciding if he can be an impact guy right away, and how do you work him into an already loaded defensive line rotation.
"It’s a strong bond and having Jahkeem [Green], it was a big piece to us because No. 1, we’ve got a lot of depth in the room and adding him pretty much helps because he’s coming in at 20-years-old and he looks good," sophomore Damion Daniels said. "When we lose my brother and the twins and pretty much everybody, it’s going to be nice having him in the room and being there with us."
