Gophers' Green sees hard work paying off

In Gophers freshman Brandon Green's family, the story is legend.

Twelve years ago, Pop Warner football, Chicago. Green is in the second grade playing against guys years older than him, including his two brothers. His stepdad, Jeff Bryant, was the coach.

Green's brother Jeff Franklin recalls how they made fun of Brandon. His equipment didn't fit, he was so small. The helmet came down, almost over his eyes. He looked like an oversized bobblehead doll.

But one day, in a game already decided, Bryant put Brandon into the game. A few plays later, he caught a pass with one hand, turned on the speed and was gone.

That's when it started. Ask anyone.

"I'll never forget that," said Franklin, who currently leads NCAA Division II in interceptions at Central (Ohio) State.

"I remember thinking, 'Hey, wow. Brandon is going to be special,' " said Bryant, a steel worker by day, Green's offensive coordinator in high school at Robeson High School in Chicago and a former semipro quarterback himself.

"My husband saw it," said Venita Bryant, Green's mother. "And he was right."

Twelve years later, Venita and Jeff Bryant were in the stands last Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind., watching the Gophers play Purdue. Three plays into the game's first drive, Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber spun to avoid pressure and rolled to the right, then let loose with a long pass down the sideline. Green, behind defensive back Royce Adams, leapt high to catch the ball and reached the Purdue 6-yard line before being tripped up.

"I almost jumped out of the stands," Bryant said. "They would have had to have handcuff me. He was running toward us. If he had scored, I don't know what I would have done. I'd have jumped out of the stands and tackled Goldy, or the Purdue mascot."

Despite being one of the jewels in coach Tim Brewster's first full recruiting class, Green started slowly in college. He was thrust into the starting lineup for the first time last week because of Ralph Spry's suspension, and responded with five catches for 100 yards.

Today, Green will make his second start, against Northwestern, the hometown school that tried to recruit him.

"I knew if I kept working the way I was working it would happen," Green said. "I knew I'd get on the field."

Staying patient

Green came to Minnesota along with Johnny Johnson, his quarterback at Robeson. Early in camp and early in the season, Green was struggling to be consistent in practice and Johnson, moved to defensive back, was struggling to get on the field, too.

"We just stuck together," Johnson said. "We went through the same thing, coming off lots of hype from high school. We kept each other going. There were days we wanted to give up. But then we'd call his dad."

The problem with having a coach for a father is that you can't call and complain about the coaching. Green would call Bryant, but most nights he heard the same thing: Suck it up.

"I'd tell him, 'The game isn't bigger than you,'" Bryant said. "'Go back to the basics. You know the game. Be patient.'"

Green already knew this. Ask him how hard it was to open the season and not see a play and he'll blame himself.

"It was frustrating, but it was because I knew I wasn't doing the stuff in practice to get on the field."

So Green kept his head down. The Gophers offense is hard enough to learn. But offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar started Green in a slot receiver position, then moved him outside, a setback.

Green had to learn the physical part of the position -- getting off the line against press coverage and blocking downfield on runs.

"These kids get all the preseason hype, and everybody wanted to know why they weren't playing," Dunbar said. "We didn't want them not to have success. We wanted to make sure they were ready. Were we too patient? I don't think so."

Green sat out the season opener. He made his first reception on a nice crossing route against Florida Atlantic in the fourth game, on Sept. 20. But his total was still one catch until three plays into last Saturday's game, when he and Weber combined for the Gophers' longest play of the season.

After the drive ended in a touchdown, Johnson went up to his friend and said he should have scored on the catch. When Green saw his parents after the game Bryant talked, jokingly, about the two passes he dropped. His mom just smiled.

"He's my baby, and it was so exciting when he made that big play. It took me back to when he was in high school. That's what we're used to seeing."

What's really important

Bryant has thrown thousands of passes to Green over the years. Bryant used to have Brandon and his brothers line up facing a wall, each with a number on his helmet. Bryant would call a number and that child would have to turn around and catch a briskly thrown pass. Bryant remembers how a 7-year-old Green used to struggle.

"At first, he'd react slow," Bryant said. "The ball would hit him in the back of his head. But he got better."

Green should catch a lot of passes over the next few years. Every one will thrill his mom and his stepdad. But ask her what she's most proud of and she won't talk football.

Green was diagnosed with dyslexia in the third grade.

"He was able to overcome that," Venita Bryant said. "In high school, he was on the honor roll a couple times. I have the certificates here with me. There's nothing better than when a child brings home that certificate."

The other day, Gophers wide receivers coach George McDonald called Mrs. Bryant to tell her that Green had received an "A" on a recent paper. That was the best news she had heard all year.

Football? It's important, too. But at another level. So when her son would call and talk about not being on the field, she reminded him of how he had overcome problems before. So often, young players with the speed and skill of a Brandon Green are used to things coming easily. But he had learned patience years ago.

"I knew coming to college, it wasn't going to be easy," he said. "I knew it'd be a bumpy road. My parents told me that. So I just held on for the bumpy road, and now I'm having some success."