Beyer running back Green more than a touchdown artist

When the pads come off and the day has reached its slowest point, Jay Green finds a seat and lets his imagination wander.

With a pencil in hand and a blank sheet of paper in his lap, the Beyer High School senior doodles and sketches, mostly cursive lettering.

“I don’t know how good I am,” he said, “but it’s a passion of mine. I used to doodle as a kid and make flipbooks, and then I took an art class as a sophomore and got into it even more. I really wouldn’t know how to describe my style.”

Soft-spoken and shy, Green is an enigma in this age of look-at-me football talent. The record-setting running back is all flash and violence on the field, where he also plays linebacker, but reserved and reticent off it.

“My dad and my family like to joke around and make fun of me because they say I didn’t start talking until I was 10,” Green said. “Me as a kid, you’d think I’d be the last person to play sports. I was a crybaby, and I really don’t like to talk about myself.”

Green really is that humble. He squirms and sweats through photo shoots, clams up during interviews and refuses to make a big fuss about himself.

Like most artists, Green is an introvert who expresses himself through his medium, whether it’s a pinball run through a defense or a psychedelic drawing unleashed during one of Mr. Thomas’ art classes.

He doesn’t mind that people marvel at his accomplishments on and off the field. In short order, he’s joined the pantheon of Beyer’s best football players. Soon, he’ll join the school’s list of distinguished graduates, too.

Just don’t expect him to thump his chest. That’s not his style.

Coach Doug Severe has closely watched the maturation of his star. When Green was a freshman, he started at running back and on the defensive line and played through a broken hand.

“He’s just an exceptional young man on the athletic field, and of course, he’s got a great personality, too,” Severe said. “He’s very vibrant, upbeat, energetic, friendly – all the things you want in a student-athlete.

“At this point, he isn’t stuck on himself or thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips. He works hard in the weight room, gives us his all and has become one of our leaders.”

Green has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each high school season, including 2,644 yards in two varsity seasons. Last fall, he ran for 1,417 yards and 18 touchdowns as Beyer (3-7) underwhelmed and missed the Sac-Joaquin Section postseason, finishing 2-4 in the Modesto Metro Conference.

During a four-game stretch that included showdowns with Tracy, a Division I finalist, and three-time CIF small-school state champion Central Catholic, Green rushed for 612 yards and seven touchdowns. He gashed Central Catholic for 237 yards, a gallery of big runs that included a school-record 96-yard touchdown.

Green’s name is all over the program’s record book. He owns season marks for touchdowns (22) and rushing yards (1,417) and the career touchdown record (32). He is poised to pass 2002 graduate Brandon Boots as the Patriots’ all-time leading rusher. Boots rushed for 3,104 yards.

Green hopes football will carry him through college, where he plans to double major in kinesiology and business. (Art, for now, is only a hobby.) At this point, though, it’s all just a sketch. He enters his final season without any major offers or commitments, just a passion to perform.

“I just play, whether people see me or not,” he said. “It’s not a big deal to me. I just play, and through God, I know somebody will be there watching me. I’m just playing to play. I don’t play for the public. I play for the love of the sport.”

The opportunities will come. Severe is sure of it.

“He’s one of those kids, looking ahead, that has something special going,” Severe said. “He’s a talented young man.”

While many of his Stanislaus District peers talk boldly about championships and perfect seasons, Green paints a different picture. He grades effort and energy – the individual brushstrokes that make up a complete season.

“Winning has never been important,” he said. “Most of the teams I’ve been on haven’t won a lot of games. I don’t need to win. As long as everyone plays as hard as they can and I do what I need to do, that’s what drives me. What’s important is that we don’t give up in anything that we’re doing.”

This story was originally published August 18, 2015 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Beyer running back Green more than a touchdown artist."