Last year, the Stanford Cardinal capped off its storied run in the Pac-12 with its third straight 3-9 season, struggling to establish a true identity as they went through another season of a rebuild. Depth was a major area of concern as well, especially on the defensive side of the ball, with bodies behind the starters coming at a limit. Making sure to address that ahead of the 2024 season, the Cardinal looked to the portal to add some defensive pieces and through the early showings so far this year, it appears that the new additions have paid off.
Making his Stanford debut against TCU in last week’s game, defensive back Jay Green, who transferred from Washington, made his presence known against the Horned Frogs, helping the Cardinal record two turnovers in the contest, being responsible for both a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. While the team lost 34-27, Green’s performance helped the defense make things tough for the 2022 National Championship Game runners-up.
“On the one that I recovered, it’s a credit to my teammates,” Green said. “We were just running to the ball, which we trained all week, and those guys just happened to make a play on the ball. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and that’s something that coach [Bobby] April instills in us during the week. And then the forced fumble, once again, we were all running to the ball, we needed the ball back and we just happened to make a play. So, credit to all my teammates and coaches.”
Forcing turnovers was not something that came in a surplus for Stanford in 2023, with the Cardinal only forcing 11 total turnovers last year, with only three fumble recoveries, but the addition of guys like Green combined with all the work that was put in during fall camp has a revamped defense looking like it can create some havoc for opponents this season.
“That’s what we practice for every day in fall camp and spring ball and things like that,” Green said. “We put a big emphasis in every room to have a competition [for] who can get the ball back the most and you know, that really just showed up on Friday.”
Playing cornerback while at Washington, Green has had to come in learn to play safety, a position that he has played since becoming a Cardinal, but while he has had to adjust to both playing a new position and learning a new scheme, he does not feel that it has been too difficult for him and instead has embraced the challenge of having to learn a new playbook from the perspective of a different position on the field, acknowledging that making the necessary adjustments have not been too hard for him.
“The adjustments are kind of the same,” Green said. “Back at UW, I was playing corner so here, it’s been a little bit different so I think it’s good that I came in playing a different position so I can really just dial into the playbook and learn it from that aspect, but I don’t think it’s been too hard on me to learn a playbook and things like that.”
Originally from Houston, Texas, Green was not super familiar with the Bay Area program before joining, but with his relationship with guys on the team such as Collin Wright and getting the chance to talk to him, combined with what he saw out of Stanford last year when the Cardinal faced Washington when Green was still a member of the Huskies, got him intrigued about where the program was headed and in seeing the academic opportunity he would get by coming to Stanford. It led to him ultimately choosing to continue his college career in Palo Alto.
“Being from the south, not a lot of people come up here this way, but I knew a couple of guys on the team and they were just talking to me about where the program was headed and how they felt about coach Taylor coming in last year and things like that,” Green said. “And coming out of the portal, I wanted the best of both worlds as far as academics and athletics so this is the spot that I landed on.”
Green has now gotten to experience firsthand what being a Cardinal is all about, and during his time at Stanford, he has not only felt that this is the place that he is supposed to be but he also is embracing the camaraderie and the passion for football that spews all throughout the program.
“I didn’t know what type of relationship the guys had outside of football,” Green said. “But that’s been pretty strong since I’ve been here and also these guys, when you come to Stanford you assume everybody only cares about academics and things of that nature, but these guys really want to make it to the next level and they really take pride in that too, while balancing the academic workload. So I think that’s very special.”
