![]() “Two, I was 6-4 and would go up and get a ball against shorter corners of that time. One, while I would want to know why and what the outcome would be, questioning authority a little bit, the coaches saw I would study and caught on quickly,” Green explained. “I think I led the NFC in yards per catch with something like 18 or so. Willie came out of camp ahead of both of those picks and played a lot. The Detroit Lions picked him up late in the draft after taking two other receivers in earlier rounds. There isn’t even an eighth round today,” he chuckled. Green’s football career was literally hanging by a thread, something he laughs about today. I was going against first-round picks in practice that week and apparently I made an impression,” he continued, “but I still was not expecting much.” “I wasn’t invited to the Senior Bowl initially, but another receiver got hurt and I got picked up late. He also caught at least one pass in every game he played in and only missed one outing his whole Reb career – as a freshman when his Father passed away of a heart attack the week of the Kentucky game.ĭespite the successful stint at Ole Miss and a 6-4 frame – rare at the time – for QBs to throw to, Willie didn’t get much attention from pro scouts and, frankly, didn’t expect much, but things changed at the Senior Bowl. His 18.0 yards per catch is first by almost a yard over J.R. Willie caught 126 passes (15 th in Rebel lore) for 2274 yards (7 th all-time), for 12 touchdowns from 186-1989. That kind of discipline produced some quality stats as a Rebel that have only been outdistanced since the advent of spread and wide open offenses. “I’m sure some of my teammates thought I was odd, but I was fine skipping the party and going to the movie by myself.” It wasn’t right for my career and for what I was trying to accomplish in life. “I never did things to be popular – at Ole Miss, there was some peer pressure to drink and get into other bad habits. “My decisions have always been based on what is right rather than what is popular,” he explained. Willie has also lived by another philosophy that has served him well in life. “I saw an opportunity to play early and I liked what was happening at Ole Miss,” he noted. Out of Clark Central HS in Athens, GA, a block from UGA, where Willie sold cokes during games, Willie went to TMI in Sweetwater, TN, and was set to sign with Tennessee, but he visited Ole Miss and liked what he saw with the likes of Ricky Myers and J.R. I did not want to be one of those statistics you hear about – the athlete who made a lot of money during his career, didn’t take care of it and then had to file bankruptcy two years after retirement.” “I always had the mindset of being ready to succeed after sports. “I knew all along that football would not last forever and I took advantage of my time at Ole Miss – learning about business. “Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun and am certainly grateful for football and sports, I was blessed, but football always had a big element of being a business for me,” said Green, now 54 and living in Shelby, NC, outside of Charlotte. ![]() Sure, he realizes now what a blessing football, and playing it on the highest level, was to him.īut for Green, who still holds the Ole Miss record for yards per catch in a career at 18.0 per snag on 126 receptions, football was a means to an end. Sure, he enjoyed his teammates through high school, four years at Ole Miss and nine years in the NFL. Willie Green looked at football differently than a lot of athletes.
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