UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Jaden Green Didn't Take a Hike after Bad Snap
On the 10th play of his first college football game, Jaden Green was summoned for his initial long snap.
The ball was placed at the Oregon State 40 and the University of Washington's first drive of the pandemic season had stalled out in an otherwise empty Husky Stadium played in the nighttime chill.
Green, a 5-foot-10, 215-pound true freshman from Gilbert, Arizona, and so eager to show what he could do, set himself over the ball. He listened for the snap count, his cue, and took sort of a forceful dip in his hips as he rifled the ball hard in the general direction of UW punter Race Porter.
His velocity was good. His ball had a crisp spiral to it. It sailed two feet over Porter's head.
Total disaster.
A guy who calls himself "jaemoney" momentarily went bankrupt with this one rocket heave.
While Porter scrambled to recover the ball 40 yards back the other way, Green, jogged toward him, likely in a state of shock. He watched as the Husky punter tried to get a kick away only to have Oregon State's All-American linebacker Rashed Hamilcar Jr. block it, and the Beavers' Jaydon Grant recover the ball and return it 11 yards for a touchdown.
Welcome to the big show, Jaden Green.
At least he got his snapping blooper out of of the way early in his career, if not early in this game.
The Huskies were able to bounce back from the tumultuous turnover and a 7-0 deficit and pull out a 27-21 victory over the visiting Beavers.
"How about him going through a little adversity," UW coach Jimmy Lake said. "Obviously, he makes a huge mistake there with the snap and after that he settled down and delivered strikes."
Jaden Green is a freshman long snapper.
UW Athletics
Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.
Green wears No. 89, a fairly obscure Husky number, though snappers pull on usually whatever is left after the glamor guys get their pick of the jerseys. He shares it with walk-on tight end Griffin Waiss. Those who previously pulled on this digit at the UW include Bruce Kramer, Jeff Huget, Randy Coleman, Bill Ames and Chris Juergens, either tight ends or rush ends.
He hails from a football family as the son of former Arizona State running back Gerald Green. A versatile athlete, he ran and caught the ball at Mesa High School. As a senior, he finished with 97 yards rushing and 4 TDs on 20 carries, and 25 receptions for 219 yards and 2 scores for his Jack Rabbits.
While he badly misfired on his first snap, Green thereafter went 26-for-26 on getting the ball back for punts, field goals and extra points for the remainder of the Huskies' 2020 season. He settled in and did the job. He really didn't have a choice because there are no other players on the UW roster designated as snappers, though there has to be a backup somewhere.
"He's going to continue to grow and learn from that," Lake said of Green's errant snap, the punt block and the resulting touchdown. "I see nothing but positive things here moving forward because he pushed through some adverse situations there."
If nothing else, the snapper presents a good color combination: After feeling blue, Green confidently wears his purple and gold.
Green's 2021 Outlook: Projected No. 1 snapper
UW Service Time: Played in 4 games, started 4
Stats: 27 snaps, I bad one
Individual Honors: None
Pro Prospects: NFL free-agent signee
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