LINCOLN — It's the best possible identity crisis for Nebraska wrestler James Green.
Nearing the end of his freshman season, the 157-pounder looks back at the kid who arrived in Lincoln last summer. He could recognize his picture in the NU media guide. Little else, however, is the same.
"It's not even close," he said. "That James Green in the summer is a stranger compared to now. It's been a long ride, but it's a lot different, a lot better."
Green, ranked No. 7 nationally in his weight class, has shaken off an admittedly slow start to lead the Huskers with 26 wins. He is on pace to break into the program's top 10 for wins as a first-year competitor.
What coach Mark Manning sees is the realization of the promise he first saw on a computer monitor, when a video of one of Green's prep matches popped up on Flowrestling.com.
Green's Willingboro (N.J.) High School didn't attend high-profile tournaments that drew the eyes of the country's top college programs. So Green, then a junior, entered an open tournament where he would go toe-to-toe with some college grapplers. He held his own, finishing third. That's when the phone began to ring.
The recruiting calls kept coming after Green went undefeated his senior year and won the New Jersey state championship, from national powerhouse Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland and Arizona State. But Green always remembered who was on the other end of one of the first calls he received.
"I was only a one-time state champ so I wasn't really on the radar for many schools until after that, but Nebraska saw potential in me before that and they were contacting me," Green said. "Basically I just saw trust there and belief. That kind of sealed the deal."
Green arrived in Lincoln in the summer and took advantage of NU's summer bridge program for incoming freshmen. He acclimated to living on campus and to the demands of college wrestling. The steps, at first, were small. His conditioning wasn't up to par and his technique needed work.
"Coming in in the summer it was rough for me in the workouts getting started, just getting my moves to work," Green said. "I had to adjust and adapt to the pace of college-level wrestling."
But Green impressed in the Huskers' first open tournament with four blowout wins. His coaches saw enough to keep Green in the starting lineup despite dropping his first two matches in NU's dual season. He responded with eight straight wins. After a loss to Division II second-ranked T.J. Hepburn of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Green ran off 13 straight wins before a 2-1 loss to No. 6 Dylan Alton of Penn State last Friday.
"Experience is invaluable," Manning said. "Being able to wrestle in hostile environments and getting out there to have the pressure on you, it's much different than in the practice room. There's a lot of guys that are NCAA champions in the wrestling room, but can't do it out on the mat when the lights are on. He's a guy who turns it on when the lights come on."
Green will have another chance to get under the lights this weekend when Nebraska (14-3, 5-3 Big Ten) travels to Stillwater, Okla., for the regional round of the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals.
Nebraska is seeded second in the Stillwater Regional, earning a first-round bye. The Huskers will face either Ohio State or Boise State Sunday afternoon. Nebraska has already defeated both this year. A win would set up a meeting with No. 1 Oklahoma State Sunday night at 7, making the host Cowboys the third top-five club the Huskers would face in nine days.
It's the first year of an overhaul of the event designed to increase the exposure of college wrestling. The winner of four regionals will meet next week in the national semifinals at a yet-to-be-determined site. Manning said the hope is to create a Final Four-style event that will eventually be televised.
Some wrestling is just too good to be kept to a narrow audience. Even though it worked out well for the Huskers in the case of their standout freshman from New Jersey.
Said Manning: "It was just a good match for us and a good match for James."
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