Where Are They Now: Ron Green

Ron Green had a good football life.

Green, a Severna Park High graduate, won a national championship at the University of Tennessee in 1998 and played four years with future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning.

The 50-year-old Green brims with pride when he talks about those days, but he’s prouder that he overcame a learning disability and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology.

Green took advantage of Tennessee’s resources that helped students with learning challenges.

Green said he was afflicted with expressive writing disorder, which made it difficult to take notes. So, he used a tape recorder in all his classes and a voice-activated computer to write papers.

“I just stood up and let them know, ‘Hey, I am just not here to play this sport,’” explained Green, who now lives in Atlanta and works as assistant manager for a property management company. “I am here to make sure I get through school, too. But not with handouts.”

Green could talk all day about his high school and college football career. He spent quality time with Manning, who guided the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts to Super Bowl victories.

They were part of Tennessee’s 1994 recruiting class.

“Peyton will always be a friend of mine,” Green said. “I was very good friends with him. When we lived in the dorms, he was my next-door neighbor. He was somebody I hung out with a lot. It was amazing.”

The biggest on-the-field moment in Green's football life came a year after Manning graduated as Tennessee earned a 23-16 victory over Florida State in the national title game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, in January 1999.

The Volunteers finished a perfect 13-0, and Green hoisted the winning trophy like many of his teammates.

“It was the highlight of my career,” Green said. “I couldn’t believe we were there. I felt so good being part of this team and doing it all together. I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, we are actually number one in the whole country.”

Green, a 6-foot-1, 275-pound defensive tackle, played in 39 games –including starting 20 --for the Volunteers across four seasons.

He started six of 12 games as a redshirt freshman in 1995 and earned a spot on the Southeastern Conference's all-freshman team.

He had his breakout performance four weeks into the 1996 season. He made 10 tackles against Mississippi. Then finished with 11 tackles versus Alabama a few weeks later.

“Ron had everything you would want in a defensive lineman,” said ex-Tennessee defensive end Jeff Coleman, a four-year teammate of Green. “No one had that combination of strength, speed and power. I watched a lot of college football. I am not just talking about the conference, but just period.”

Late in 1996, Green’s career began to lose its luster. He suffered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee – the second one. Green wasn’t as effective in 1997 when he tried to play through pain despite starting 11 games.

Green was part of a rotation as a senior and unfortunately tore his knee for a third time in the national championship game. This time, it was his right knee.

“If Ron hadn’t gotten injured multiple times, and I saw all of them,” Coleman said, “we’d be talking about Ron playing in the NFL. He just wasn’t the same after the injuries. Ron would have had a great NFL career.”

At Severna Park High School, Green had a stellar career. He finished his senior season with 16 sacks and later ran a 4.64 40-yard dash. In 2007, Severna Park inducted Green into its athletic hall of fame.

That prolific high school stint led Green to scholarship offers from the nation’s premier programs, which were coached by college football legends. They included Lou-Holtz-led Notre Dame; Florida State, coached by Bobby Bowden; and Tom Osborne’s Nebraska team.

Yet Green thought his athletic future would be in basketball. Green said he was recruited by Maryland, Wake Forest and Rutgers in that sport while starting on varsity for four seasons at guard. He also competed in gymnastics for the Falcons.

Of course, he stuck with football, which he started playing as a freshman. He started for four years for Andy Borland, who coached the Falcons from 1963 to 1997.

Green saw time at running back, linebacker, guard and nose guard.

“He was a man child among boys,” said the 85-year-old Boreland.

Green worked as a personal trainer for 20 years before getting into real estate. Seeing Green receive a degree meant as much to Borland as anything the lineman accomplished on the field. At Severna Park, he needed to take the college entrance exam six times before passing.

“In the 10th grade, he read on a fifth-grade level,” Borland recalled. “We got him a tutor. He had a great attitude about academics.

“When he told me, ‘I passed the test, coach,’ I had tears in my eyes,” Borland said.

Green had a great football life, and as he proved, he had even more to offer.