After a great collegiate career at West Virginia’s starting quarterback position, Garrett Greene has decided to utilize his athletic ability and switch to wide receiver. Will this move pay off for Greene?
Let’s begin by looking at his West Virginia statistics, where he was QB1 for the last two and a half seasons of his collegiate career. In his tenure with the Mountaineers, Green finished with 3,070 passing yards, 1,370 rushing yards, and 43 total touchdowns while leading WVU to two straight bowl games.
Greene was the definition of a dual-threat quarterback. He was light on his feet, was able to make quick decisions, and threw a pretty good ball that improved throughout his time at WVU. With so many great quarterbacks in this year’s NFL draft and in the league already, Greene and his agent decided wide receiver would be his best chance of making an NFL roster.
At the Big 12 pro day, Greene led the Mountaineers in almost every event. He ran a 4.50 40-yard dash (best on the team), had a 36.5-inch vertical jump (best on the team), and finished with the best shuttle time at 4.08 seconds (best on the team).
Making the switch from quarterback to wide receiver is not easy, but it has been done before. The most notable player who has similar characteristics and skill sets to Garret is legendary Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman.
Edelman began his college career as a quarterback for San Mateo College before ultimately transferring to Kent State in hopes of earning the starting position. After doing so, Edelman excelled in the position. He was an All-MAC quarterback for the Golden Flashes from 2006 to 2008. He served as a team captain during his 2008 season. Edelman also owns the school record for rushing yards in a season by a quarterback when he rushed for 1,370 yards in 2008.
Although Garret Greene still has a long way to go before he can fully be compared to one of the best receivers ever, his college career and pro day line up almost identically to Edelman. At Kent State’s pro day, Edelman ran a 4.52 (.44 seconds slower than Greene) 40-yard dash and had a vertical leap of 36.5 inches (same as Greene).
With the athleticism there for Greene, he will need to take the next step and focus on what it takes to be a great receiver. He will need to improve his hands, route running, and IQ as a receiver if he wants to succeed at the next level and truly earn the comparison of Julian Edelman.
Greene is projected to go undrafted, but if a team sees something in him as Belichick did in Edelman, anything could happen. The NFL draft will begin on April 24 and conclude on April 26.
