Former NFL QB's Mentorship Has Oregon QB Commit Seth Green on Path to Success

As he trotted on to the field for his first play as a high school quarterback, a combination of nerves and adrenaline took over Seth Green.

Despite being just 14 years old, Green quickly suppressed his emotions and focused on the task at hand.

East Ridge High School (Saint Paul, Minnesota) head coach Mike Pendino believed that his young freshman could provide a spark for the Raptors, who were trailing 7-3 in the second quarter against rival powerhouse Cretin-Derham Hall.

“I just said to myself, ‘He’s the guy,’” Pendino said of his decision to insert Green into that pressure-packed moment. “He’s going to be the future. Let’s let him do it. We’ve seen him do it in practice. Now let’s see how he’s going to do it in front of five (thousand) or 6,000 people against a very good team in Cretin-Derham Hall.”

Like his son, Bryan Green was anxious. He sat in the crowd amongst a group of friends and family. He figured that Coach Pendino would ease young Seth into the game by calling a handoff.

However, Pendino had other ideas.

Seth took the snap and sold the fake handoff to his running back. He then calmly dropped back and launched a deep ball that hit his target in stride for an 81-yard touchdown strike.

“Words can’t describe it,” Bryan said. “I felt like a kid in a candy store. I was jumping, yelling, high-fiving everybody. The whole stadium just erupted with cheers. It was definitely that proud father moment.”

While the Raptors would go on to lose that night, Green’s first play as a prep quarterback would set the stage for him to emerge as one of the nation’s premier signal-callers in the class of 2016. 

The 6’4”, 210-pounder has flourished over the last two seasons, throwing for 2,565 yards and 25 touchdowns. He’s off to a fast start this fall, having thrown for 1,429 yards and 16 touchdowns with another three scores coming via the ground, according to Minnesota Football Hub. He's also been selected to The Opening 2015 watch list, per StudentSports. 

On Wednesday morning, Seth became the second commitment in Oregon's 2016 class. He selected the Ducks over offers from Michigan State, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Louisville among others. 

Credit: Bryan Green

Seth’s journey to become a top-flight quarterback almost never happened. But thanks to a father who realized his son’s gifts at an early age, Seth—who grew up wanting to play receiver—relented on his preferred position and lined up under center at his father’s suggestion.

“He was the only one who could get the snap every time,” Bryan recalled while chuckling. “I told him, like it or not, you are going to be my quarterback because I know we will get the play off and we would get production.”

Seth thrived in the role and was good enough by his middle school years that Bryan decided to invest in his son’s future. He began taking Seth to quarterback camps and even hired a local quarterback coach to work with Seth in the summer.

Prior to his eighth grade year, Seth went to a camp at Hill-Murray High School, where former Wisconsin and NFL quarterback Brooks Bollinger had just been named head coach.

It didn’t take long for Bollinger—who spent the last two years serving as the quarterbacks coach at Pitt—to realize he had something special in Seth. 

“He was really young, but the physical attributes alone made you say, ‘Wow, this kid has a chance to be really good,’” Bollinger said. “But I think the two things that stuck out to me about him was how he carried himself and his toughness, mentally and physically.”

The Greens decided to enroll Seth at Hill-Murray for the eighth grade, where he continued to work with the NFL veteran and played on the junior varsity team.

Bollinger noted that the team was at a disadvantage numbers-wise playing against some of the bigger schools in the district. Despite playing squads who started sophomores and juniors, Green proved his mettle amid the chaos going on around him.

“He got hit in the mouth a bunch, but he got up,” Bollinger recalls. “He stood up, brushed it off and didn’t complain or shy away from it. He just showed that mental and physical toughness to keep competing. I think that’s what makes Seth who he is.”

Even with his physical gifts and his toughness, his coaches were struck at how gifted Seth was with the intangible qualities that are required to play the most difficult and critical position on the field.

His leadership, poise in the pocket and ability to command the huddle were immediately evident to Bollinger.

“He’s got exactly what you want from a quarterback from a personality standpoint,” Bollinger said. “He’s really comfortable with who he is, which gives him natural confidence, but he’s not arrogant. To be able to step in a huddle and have command of it as an eighth-grader, that’s rare. That’s a non-negotiable element of being a great quarterback, and he’s had that for a while now.”

Credit: Bryan Green

Pendino agrees, citing the "it" factor as one of the main reasons he handed Seth the reins of his offense so early.

“You just know it and you feel it and you see it when you are around him,” Pendino said. “The way the other players gravitate toward him. They listen to what he has to say. Even as a freshman, he walked into the huddle and they all listened.”

Seth soaked up all of the advice he could get from Bollinger, and it’s a relationship that Seth admits has helped him mature into an elite prep passer.

“He just showed me a glance of what it’s like on the next level of football,” Seth said. “With that, it helped me out and helped prepare me for what to expect going into high school.”

Pendino said that Green’s work ethic has only increased since he’s been at East Ridge. Admittedly a film-room junkie, Green’s mental understanding of the game allowed him to master a trait that takes most quarterbacks on the collegiate level time to develop.

“Right now, he’ll check out of plays 10-12 times a game based on film study and what he sees on the field,” Pendino said. “That’s a tough thing to do, even for quarterbacks at the collegiate level. He’s really become very good at seeing defenses, having a pre-snap read and knowing when it’s time to check out of a play and when it’s not.”

As the attention with the recruiting process grew, Bryan and his son approached it in a business-like manner. Bryan raised Seth and his younger 12-year-old twin brothers, Blaine and Bryson, to remain rooted in their faith and to keep their focus on academics first and foremost.

Seth—who mentioned plans to major in sports marketing or a related field in the sports world—refused to place more importance on his recruiting process over his current duties as a student-athlete at East Ridge.

Credit: Bryan Green

“I didn’t try to let it (recruiting) consume me,” Seth said. “I tried to look at it as a hobby. I enjoyed it during my free time, but I tried not to let it interfere with the things I’m doing at school with my team and with my goals as a student.”

With his commitment to the Ducks out of the way, Seth’s primary goal is to lead his team to a state title. However, he’s also driven to be a mentor to his brothers, who appear to be following in his footsteps as young gridiron stars in the making. Both are two-way standouts who are excelling at safety on defense and receiver on offense. 

For what it’s worth, the twins already have a ringing endorsement from Seth’s mentor.

“His two little brothers are better than he is,” Bollinger said with a laugh. "He might be the best quarterback in the country in his class, but he’s not the best player in his own house."

Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand and all recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Follow @SanjayKirpalani