ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Stephfon Green seriously doesn't know where he would be if his Penn State teammates hadn't pressured their coach, the late Joe Paterno, into reinstating Green to the team last August.
Quite possibly, he wouldn't have been signed as an undrafted free-agent running back by the Detroit Lions.
"I was done," Green said of being dismissed by Paterno for undisclosed disciplinary reasons before preseason camp last year. "My teammates got me back on the team.
"I was very thankful for them going to him and doing that for me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them."
It took a while, but Green worked his way back into the playing rotation and, eventually, showed that he indeed can still produce. He led the team in rushing in three of the last four games, including a 93-yard, two-touchdown performance in a victory over Ohio State.
Now Green is trying to show that's the real him, not the one who failed to live up to expectations throughout most of his final three years in State College, Pa.
Despite never starting a game in his collegiate career, Green is getting a shot to prove himself with the Lions, who are certainly in need of backup plans at his position.
Detroit's top two backs, Jahvid Best (concussions) and Mikel Leshoure (torn Achilles), are question marks for the 2012 season.
The Lions finished 29th out of 32 NFL teams in rushing last year, averaging only 95.2 yards per game.
The club, to the surprise of many, did not draft a running back this year. There has been speculation the team would like to sign a free agent, perhaps Green Bay's Ryan Grant, but there are possible salary-cap issues.
As of now, the offensive backfield is very much unsettled, which at least opens the door slightly for a young player like Green (5-foot-10, 193 pounds) to make an impression.
Other than fullback James Bryant, Green was the only running back with a contract in the Lions' three-day rookie minicamp that concluded Sunday.
At the very least, Green seemingly has a chance to make the team as a practice player.
"Our running back coach (Sam Gash) went to Penn State," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "He's always bringing guys up from Penn State.
"Our scouts do a good job of (evaluating) not just guys that are really well known-players, but guys that maybe come on late in their career or had other setbacks that didn't get them as much playing time in college."
Green was expected to play defensive back when he signed with Penn State, but the coaching staff decided to move him to running back because of his speed. There were reports that Green was unofficially timed in the 40-yard dash in 4.25 seconds.
Whether that's accurate or not is debatable. Nevertheless, he unquestionably displayed breakaway speed.
After being redshirted in 2007, Green emerged the next season as a redshirt freshman when he rushed for 578 yards and four touchdowns on 105 carries.
However, he dislocated his right ankle in the Rose Bowl and needed surgery in January 2009. It was the same ankle that he had previously broken, forcing him to miss part of his senior year in high school.
Green rushed for a combined total of just 507 yards during his sophomore and junior years at Penn State. He came back last year from the suspension to finish with 266 yards and six touchdowns in eight games. It wasn't until the final month that he was getting regular carries.
"Up and down, I'm not going to lie," Green said, describing his career. "But when I did touch the ball, I was very productive."
Green's off the-field troubles included being charged with buying alcohol for a minor last summer. He was 22 at the time.
"I wish I would have stayed out of trouble," Green said. "I learned from my mistake. I was told I opened a lot of people's eyes when they heard the courage I had to come back and still lead the team.
"For the first six games, I was on the scout team. I was doing that to the best of my ability. I was acting like a freshman (trying to prove himself)."
Offensive lineman Quinn Barham, another undrafted free agent signed by the Lions, was one of about eight Penn State seniors who approached Paterno in support of Green last August.
"We felt it was kind of unfair the way he left the team," Barham said. "Granted, he broke team rules in a sense, but he was too valuable of a teammate, a leader, to leave us like that. He was a leader to young guys, a mentor, a tremendous presence on the team.
"He's very vocal, very aggressive. You need that on a football team. He's a guy you can go to to help pick you up. He's a great motivator."
Barham vouches for those extreme 40-yard dash timings that Green put up, too.
"He's always been running 4.2s, 4.3s his entire career," Barham said. "He was killing the 40. It was to the point where the strength coaches had to check their watches every other time. They just couldn't believe it. He kept doing it consistently. I think he can still do it.
"He's had his share of struggles, but I think he has a lot more left in the tank."
