How Kansas State football linebacker Daniel Green's persistence finally paid off last year

Daniel Green knows all about patience.

Redshirting his first season at Kansas State and then serving as a backup for two more taught him that college football can be a grind. But he also learned that persistence and hard work eventually will pay off.

"You know how we say pound the stone? That's been my journey," said Green, who after a breakout junior year in 2021 returns for one more season as one of the Big 12's elite linebackers. "I was pounding away like wild, and finally I could move in and I got my chance to start last year for the first time.

"I'm still pounding."

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The Wildcats' pound-the-stone slogan came courtesy of performance coach Ben Newman, whose relationship with head coach Chris Klieman dates back to North Dakota State, where Klieman won four FCS national championships.

Green, who arrived in 2018, one year before Klieman took over, waited his turn while appearing in all 13 games as a redshirt freshman and racking up 33 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery. He followed that up during a 10-game sophomore season that included a pair of starts, recording 39 stops, 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

But it wasn't until last year, when he stepped into the starting lineup at middle linebacker, that Green's career truly blossomed. He led the Wildcats in tackles with 89 and tackles for loss with 16, including three sacks, and was an all-Big 12 honorable mention selection.

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In fact, Green's success fueled speculation that he would bypass his senior season after receiving his bachelor's degree in sociology last December. Green quickly put those rumors to rest, declaring after a loss at Texas in the regular-season finale that he almost certainly would be back.

"I just felt like I wasn't where I wanted to be in my game," Green said last month during Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas. "As a linebacker, I felt I had way more to improve on before I take the next step. And I felt like it was unfinished business, too.

"I came here with a group of guys and we talked about: 'Hey, let's run this back. We can do something special,' and that's what we're going to do."

After the loss to Texas, the Wildcats redeemed themselves in the Jan. 4 Texas Bowl in Houston, pounding LSU, 42-20, to finish with an 8-5 record. And while they were picked by media members to finish no better than fifth in the Big 12 this year, they led the league with six preseason all-conference picks.

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Green was one of them.

"My mindset (is the same) regardless, but it feels good to get that," Green said. "It's good always to be recognized, especially with a lot of the guys in the Big 12. We've got a lot of great defenses.

"It's great to be recognized, but there's so much more work left to be done."

Klieman, for one, appreciates how far Green has come since that redshirt freshman year in 2019.

"He's grown so much," Klieman said. "He's such a mature person now and he has his goals in front of him. He has great insight.

"He understands what we are looking for as coaches as far as the type of player, as far as the practice habits (and) as far as doing the right things off the field. And he has really embraced that and he's a guy that now is not afraid to grab a kid in the locker room, on the practice field or the cafeteria and say, 'That's not the way we do things. Here's how we do things this way.'"

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Indeed, Green has become more vocal with each season, to the point that he does see himself as a leader. But he's quick to point out that he isn't the only one.

"Guys like me and (super-senior defensive tackle) Eli Huggins, of course we're going to be leaders," Green said. "But we challenge guys like (defensive end) Felix Anudike-Uzomah, and we challenge (linebackers) Nick Allen and Austin Moore. There are guys that have stepped up, like (cornerbacks) Julius Brents and Ekow (Boye-Doe), and we've said that collectively, let's all be leaders.

"We said, let's be vocal, because if we want to be as good as we say we are, it takes us all to hold each other accountable. It can't be just one or two guys."

Last year, in addition to assuming a starting role, Green had to adapt to K-State's defensive switch from a four-man to a three-man front. There were some bumps in the road during the transition, but by the end of the season the Wildcats had turned into one of the league's most consistent defensive units.

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That experience can only help Green going forward, Klieman said.

"I'm excited, because he feels more comfortable in the three down now, because he was four down, and then he was back and forth in the spring and fall of last year," Klieman said. "So he feels really confident with what he's doing in the three down, and he really fits a three down as an inside linebacker better.

"I think he'll have a huge, huge year for us, and I think he's probably one of the more underrated players in the league."

You'll get no argument from Huggins, who returned for an extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

"I think Deuce (Green) is going to have a great year," Huggins said of Green. "Deuce is just great. He's a grinder and he's a great leader.

"He works his butt off and he's gotten better every single year that he's been here, so I have no doubt that he'll continue to do that. He's gotten bigger and stronger and faster, so he should be super productive this year."

Green can't wait to prove them right.

"I started last year and I feel like that's why I came back this year, to improve and get even better," he said. "It's time to do that."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football's Daniel Green is an elite Big 12 linebacker