2018 Recruiting: German Green Comment Count

Brian

Previously: Last year's profiles. S Sammy Faustin.

       
DeSoto, TX – 6'2" 178
       

German-Green

24/7 3*, #973 overall
#80 S, #115 TX
Rivals 3*, NR overall
ESPN 3*, NR overall
#105 S, #181 TX 
Composite 3*, #1230 overall
#98 S, #176 TX
Other Suitors Tenn, OkState, ISU, Houston, CU
YMRMFSPA Jeremy Clark
Previously On MGoBlog Hello post from Ace.
Notes Twitter. Twin brother is also in the class. He wears 10, Gemon wears 9.

Film

Senior:

This DB recruiting class is comprised of five near-identical guys, and to drive the point home two of them are twins. German Green, the focus of this post, is the one who tore his ACL, missed the critical-for-rankings-purposes rising junior summer and his entire junior year, projects to safety, and doesn't have much buzz; Gemon Green is the guy who didn't get injured and is a four-star corner.

Green also drives the point home about a certain lack of information out there these days: ESPN did not scout him at all. Barely anyone did. There was a little bit about both twins after their sophomore seasons ("tall, athletic corners that are poised to blow up"), but then German got hurt. It was so sparse out there that I transcribed a video interview in which not too much was said. Here's 24/7's Greg Powers at some sort of all star thing:

"A guy who can be a centerfield type. … not afraid to come down and stick his nose in on a tackle. And the German Green you see now is not going to be the German Green you see two years from now. Great frame … is really going to get jacked up. … very versatile prospect."

That's a lot more reserved than Powers was when the twins committed to Michigan

…his upside and potential is through the roof as a safety prospect. He is long, has tremendous coverage skills, and plays with an attacking style. He is able to sink his hips and get into and out of breaks easily, and coming off of his injury this spring he has been able to show that same ability post-injury.

…and might mean that Green's senior season didn't knock anyone's socks off.

All right then. Rivals didn't have much more; their most useful bits on German come at around the 1:15 mark in this video:

Rivals Texas guy Nick Krueger also chipped this in around Signing Day:

…really there’s a lot of upside potential there. He was hurt as a junior and came back as a senior and looked pretty good. Anything you get from him is a bonus. Physically he has a lot of similarities to his brother, obviously as a twin, and if he bounces all the way back from his injury he might end up being just as good as Gemon.

Green did get back for some camps as a rising senior, drawing reasonably positive mention during them. These mentions usually came after someone said something real nice about Gemon. German was "impressive in his own right as he frustrated wide receivers with his size and length" at the Dallas Opening regional and got an honorable mention call out as part of a "terrific" DB group at a UA camp. A 7-on-7 event where his brother was the Alpha Dog

The brother of our Alpha Dog selection showed off his own unique skill from the safety position. Green was able to make big plays from the slot position, and he organized the defense from the back end.

And that's it.

In rather desperate straits we turn to the highlight video above for hints. It's three minutes long and padded out with some fairly routine tackles where Green doesn't screw up a run fit; there's one instance of excellent coverage on a fade and a couple more incompletions he harasses. It's not the kind of video that makes you question what the recruiting sites are looking at; if you told me this was the #1000 player in the country I'd say that sounds reasonable, especially when he runs a 4.7 at the Opening regional.

The twins thing could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The good bit is that he's literally the same physical package as Gemon, the 4.7 is probably an artifact of the ACL tear, and if Gemon is a Texas offeree and 4-star sort German might be the same except everyone missed it. And Michigan really wanted Gemon.

The bad bit is the way they demonstrated this. Lorenz:

Greens: Michigan's offer to 2018 three-star safety/cornerback German Green is about as good an indicator that the staff views his twin brother Gemon as a top target than anything else. We reported last week that Gemon Green has flown up Michigan's recruiting board this winter and that they'll push hard for him at the position.

German, another 6'2" prototype in the physical sense, has not seen his recruitment take off as much mostly due to the fact that he tore his ACL last spring. Many college coaches are waiting to see what he does this spring and summer as his recruitment could take off as well.

German's offer was a shot in the dark. Later in the cycle Texas offered Gemon but was a bit hesitant about German

— DeSoto cornerback Gemon Green said he was very excited about the Texas offer and wants to make another visit soon. Green said that Texas is in his Top 3 with Michigan and TCU.

— DeSoto cornerback German Green is still hopeful a Texas offer will come his way in the near future. Green added that cornerbacks coach Jason Washington will evaluate him closely this spring.

…and Michigan was the beneficiary. Texas continued their pursuit of the brothers even after Gemon's commitment but never offered German.

Michigan's last throw-in commit to get someone else, Mike Dwumfour, appears to be working out beautifully, but Dwumfour had a lot more positive arrows than Green does. Offers from Tennessee and Oklahoma State came just before the Greens went off the board. It's hard to tell how offer-y those offers were, and how much the idea of picking of Gemon appealed to schools a rung below the big time recruiters. And there was little interest in offering, or scouting, Green once he got back on the field.

Maybe that's a recruiting industry problem and we'll discover that more guys are getting misevaluated these days, but if a highlight video doesn't get you hyped up much and there's no super secret vibe out there, the ranking is the best thing to go on.

Etc.: Has a twin!

Why Jeremy Clark? They're all Jeremy Clark! Prepare yourself. The next three people are probably going to be Jeremy Clark YMRMFSPAs. In this case, Green is another large and lanky CB/S hybrid with meh offers and rankings. If you want me to splice out hair-thin differences and spit out other names, it's… still Jeremy Clark.

Guru Reliability: Low. So very low. Injury caused him to be barely scouted.

Variance: High. On the one hand, goes gene for gene with a touted CB with a Texas offer. On the other, is ranked in the wilderness.

Ceiling: High-minus. Like his brother, but apparently minus a step.

General Excitement Level: Low. All recruits can defy their recruiting rankings and these posts are always guessing; in this case the guessing at maximum uncertainty. That said, German doesn't really have much arguing against his rankings.

Projection: Redshirt is a near-guarantee, and then he's in the same boat as Faustin: fighting for one open job the next two years and maybe trying out corner as a backup plan. Faustin's already in tough against some older guys, and Green is further back yet thanks to the ACL tear. If he emerges it's likely as an upperclassman.

Comments

scanner blue

May 25th, 2018 at 3:35 PM ^

Saw them last summer at the BBQ at the Big House and they were skin and bones. Camps Sanderson, Herbert, Barwis, Gittleson etc. and thirds at the training table are in order. They were standing next to Rumler, Mayfield, Mazi Smith, and J. T. Daniels but still...

Catchafire

May 25th, 2018 at 3:54 PM ^

One man's trash is another man's treasure.  In this case, I think we are the winners and I'm excited for them to hit the field.  Let's see what Don Brown can do with these two because it is going to be electric when all is said and done (I hope).

 

It is very shady to offer one twin and not the other, especially when the other is coming off an injury. 

Catchafire

May 27th, 2018 at 7:51 AM ^

No, but if you read the article it stated that one brother had an injury and missed a year of playing time. Because they are twin, as the article highlights, the odds that they are of the same or similar physical skill level is high.

Michigan had to offer both to get the perceived hot one... I think it was a low risk to do so.

StraightDave

May 25th, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^

In the toughest district in the DFW and compete against major D1 talent every weekend. In fact the worst team in that district could probably win it all in Michigan. Hopefully they can put on some weight and continue to improve.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

May 25th, 2018 at 7:44 PM ^

As a safety. DB can turn a 6’2” safety with good cover skillls into a key part of the D.

It also should not be discounted how these types of athletes can contribute to special teams.

Yeah, a 3* has high upside after a year or so in the system.

4th phase

May 26th, 2018 at 6:22 PM ^

Don't discount the brotherly competition and motivation factor. If his brother is ahead of him that will just push him to practice and prepare harder. No one had heard of Jordan Glasgow then after his brothers go to the NFL he's suddenly getting practice hype. He certainly wasn't considered an athletic freak out of high school and now he's a well regarded backup.