INDIANAPOLIS – Take a look at T.J. Green's recruiting profile coming out of high school and you won't see more than a couple of stars next to his name.
The blueblood programs of college football weren't flocking to Sylacauga, Alabama to pound on Green's door.
Just a week before signing day in 2013, Green was committed to the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Clemson came calling though, seeing the same sort of athleticism and potential the Colts were attracted to three years later.
Tigers' head coach Dabo Swinney admits his staff found Green late in the recruiting process.
Better late than never.
"Quickly, when Green got here, we were like, 'This kid is a good athlete as we got on the team,'" Swinney says now looking back on Green's brief, but productive, recruitment.
"It was kind of just figuring out the best spot for him."
Green's initial look at the collegiate level was the receiver position.
After Green caught two balls there as a true freshman, the Tigers' coaching staff re-reevaluated his future following the 2013 campaign.
Safety was the move for the 6-3, 205-pound Green.
In 2014, Green backed up future NFL-safety Robert Smith.
A starting role for Green came last season and he finished the year third in tackles for the national runner-ups.
Even though Green had less than 20 starts in college, he pursued the NFL.
Green, who ran the fastest 40-yard dash time for a safety at the Combine since 1999, received a third-round grade when the paperwork came back from the NFL Draft advisory committee.
Swinney believes Green would have gone in Round One had he returned for his senior season.
"His learning curve and growth potential as far as the game of football is still out there for him," Swinney says of Green. "He's not a fully developed guy, at all. But he has incredible measureables.
"What you don't know about him is his work ethic. He's a very committed kid. He works his tail off. He's a guy that I think has a lot to learn and is still developing but he will put the work in and has the aptitude that it's going to take to be successful at the next level."
