Hugh Green (American football)
North Natchez (Natchez, Mississippi) | |||||||||||
College: | Pittsburgh (1977–1980) | ||||||||||
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NFL draft: | 1981 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7 | ||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||||||
Hugh Donell Green (born July 27, 1959) is an American former
Early years
Green was born in
College career
Green attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he played
Green left the university with 460 tackles and 53 career sacks in his college career.[1] According to USC and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John McKay, "Hugh Green is the most productive player at his position I have ever seen in college".[2] The table is a year-by-year showing of Green's defensive statistics.
Defensive Statistics | |||||||||||||||||
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Season | Games | Tackles | Assists | Total | For Loss | Sacks | Yds Lost | Int | FF | FR | PD | Hur | BK | ||||
1977 | 12 | 58 | 34 | 92 | 15 | 12 | -76 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 21 | 2 | ||||
1978 | 12 | 66 | 43 | 109 | 12 | 13 | -82 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 0 | ||||
1979 | 12 | 76 | 59 | 135 | 14 | 11 | -104 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 0 | ||||
1980 | 12 | 77 | 46 | 123 | 11 | 17 | -112 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 17 | 0 | ||||
Total | 48 | 277 | 183 | 460 | 52 | 53 | -374 | 4 | 24 | 13 | 22 | 76 | 2 |
In 1980, Green won the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Award, the Lombardi Award and was the Sporting News Player of the Year, the UPI Player of the Year and finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting, losing to running back George Rogers of the University of South Carolina.[3] Green's second-place finish in the voting was the best a defensive specialist had ever attained until 1997, when Charles Woodson won the award.[4]
Green was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named the fifth greatest college football player of All-Time by collegefootballnews.com.[1] He was named to the all-time All-American team compiled by The Sporting News in 1983.[5] In 2007, Green was ranked No. 14 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list. He was also named to Sports Illustrated's College Football All-Century team in 1999.[6]
Professional career
Green was selected as the seventh overall pick of the first round by the Buccaneers in the
His 1986 season ended in the Week 3 classic 51–45 game against the New York Jets. In the first quarter, Green suffered a knee injury and was carted off the field.
In Miami, Green played six more seasons before retiring. He was a member of Don Shula's teams, which were often playoff contenders, and Green was a starter on those teams, racking up 7.5 sacks in 1989, to tie a career-high.
References
- ^ a b 100 Greatest Players of All-Time #5 Hugh Green Archived June 19, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 14, 2006
- ^ Strother, Shelby. "Green's presence felt - especially by Bears". St. Petersburg Times. November 2, 1981
- ^ However, Green's Panthers met Rogers' Gamecocks in the Gator Bowl at the end of that season, with the Panthers winning 37–9 as Green and the Panther defense kept Rogers from scoring and forced him to fumble twice. Lineman finalist for Heisman Retrieved April 14, 2006
- ^ Hugh Green at the College Football Hall of Fame
- ^ McDonald,Tim. "Lions' QB war an old tale". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. August 31, 1983
- ^ SI.com Retrieved March 21, 2009.
- ^ SPORTS PEOPLE; Hugh Green in Crash, New York Times October 4, 1984 Retrieved April 14, 2006
- ^ DOLPHINS MAKE 'HUGE' TRADE ALL-PRO GREEN JOINS MIAMI FOR 2 DRAFT CHOICES, South Florida Sun Sentinel, October 10 1985
External links
- Hugh Green at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference