Players We’re Hyped About: Stanley Green Jr.

Stanley Green is entering his junior season at Illinois and has played in 20 games for the Orange and Blue, including 14 starts at the safety spot.

Green is one of the defense’s biggest playmakers. He is the perfect player for #LovieBall — all he does is make big hits and force turnovers. In his 20 games he has forced six fumbles (three each season). He led the team in that category last year and led all freshmen in forced fumbles during the regular season in 2016. He also has two fumble recoveries and an interception in his first two seasons.

Most of those forced fumbles are him laying the wood on a running back and jarring the ball loose. Here’s his highlight tape from last year:

As you can tell from the tape, Green is incredibly violent. Probably Definitely too violent. If you do a twitter search for “stanley green targeting” you’ll find a whole heap of results. Green is an upperclassman now and has to be smarter. If he keeps this up we could witness a really scary injury. Also, his teammates need him on the field. Those targeting calls and suspensions really put the Illini at a disadvantage.

Stanley Green is like your really adorable puppy who hasn’t quite figured out where to go to the bathroom yet. He means well and he’s full of energy, but in his first two years he’s gotten himself into trouble on the field.

Turnovers, hard knocks, flying around the field and living life on the edge of the rulebook is why we are hyped for Stanley Green.

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