By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Trey’Dez Green approached football like it was basketball when he first got to LSU in 2024 from Zachary High just outside Baton Rouge.
This was because at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds, he was as good or better at basketball than football, where he was ranked as the No. 2 tight end in the nation by 247sports.com and the No. 2 player in Louisiana behind Acadiana High defensive tackle Dominick McKinley, who also signed with LSU.
“When I first made it to LSU, I didn’t even know how to get in a three-point stance,” Green said Tuesday during player interviews going into Saturday’s clash between No. 14 LSU (6-2, 3-2 SEC) and No. 5 Alabama (6-2, 4-2 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.
“Being a basketball player, I just wanted to come in, catch touchdowns and celebrate. I didn’t really want to be hit, or be physical,” said Green, who played briefly for the LSU basketball team in the 2024-25 season.
And his basketball approach worked in his freshman season in football in 2024 as he caught 13 passes for 101 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games and two starts.
“But as I’ve grown and learned the game of football and learned the position itself, I have to be physical,” Green said. “And once I started being physical, it just opened up so much more for me.”
So did the added strength and weight as Green is now playing at about 240 pounds. As he lumbers down the field towering over most linebackers and defensive backs like a locomotive skyscraper, he runs through tacklers in a style reminisent of Baltimore Colts tight end great John Mackey. And he was only 6-2 and 224 while in the NFL from 1963-72 and on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
“And I get yards after catch,” Green said. “I turn a five-yard hitch into ten-yard gains. I love being physical. I love it.”
"If I’m going to the store to grab something, getting food or whatever, they’re saying, ‘Hey, go beat Bama.’" -LSU QB Sam Leavitt: https://t.co/7libTraVLV
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 4, 2026
So does LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, who will be looking for Green Saturday, particularly with Green nearing or at 100 percent following a knee injury suffered against Ole Miss on Sept. 19 that sidelined him for four games. Green returned last week in the 38-17 win at Auburn and caught five passes for 50 yards with a touchdown, though not at 100 percent.
“He’s kind of like a safety blanket out there,” Leavitt said. “He’s such a big target. I threw him a crosser during the (Auburn) game, and I felt like I kind of missed him a little bit. And he just snagged it, and it looked so easy for him. And I was like, ‘Hmm.’ It’s pretty nice. He’s got a pretty wide target right there. He’s incredible.”
Green has caught 19 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns in four games.
“He’s a grinder and has that look in his eyes, ‘Hey, give me the ball,'” Leavitt said. “When he has that look, you want to give him the ball. He’s going to make a play. He’s really hard to tackle.”
And he has that three-point stance down.
“I’m more intelligent on the field now, and it helps a lot – studying film and different coverages,” Green said.
“He’s a super high processor as Jack Marucci would say through all his testing scores,” Leavitt said.
Marucci, a sports science expert, is LSU’s director of performance innovation since 2021 after 25 years as the Tigers head athletic trainer.
“And he (Green) applies it in the next game when live bullets are really flying,” Leavitt said. “I can’t wait to see him out there (at 100 percent or close to it). He’s feeling better, and he’s looking better.”
The open week may have pushed Green to 100 percent with the knee injury, or former knee injury.
“I feel ready to go,” he said. “I feel amazing.”
Green did not seem as concerned with the hip-drop tackle attempts by Auburn that LSU coach Lane Kiffin complained about as they are considered dangerous for offensive players and have been ruled out of the NFL.
“When I get the ball, I just try not to let one person tackle me,” he said.
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