NOTE: Kansas State has elected to advance players’ classification even though the 2020 season did not affect eligibility. Those who wish to take advantage of this extra year will be listed as a (“super”) senior again after their original eligibility would have been exhausted.

#22 Daniel Green

Redshirt Super Senior | 6-3 | 245 lbs. | Portland, Oregon

Courtesy Kansas State Athletics

• Position: Linebacker
• Previous College: None
• Projection: Starter
• Status: On Scholarship

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Daniel X. “Deuce” Green (b. Jan. 8, 1999) is an athletic, veteran linebacker who broke through as a full-time starter in 2021 after two years spent primarily as a reserve and returns for a sixth season of striking fear into the hearts of opposing Big 12 players everywhere.

Green, who obtained his bachelor’s degree in sociology from K-State in December 2021 and now is working on his master’s degree in personal financial planning, enters his second senior campaign in 2023 with 219 career tackles, just 31 stops shy of becoming the 27th player in school history with 250 tackles in a career (and the first since 2014).

He also now has 152 solo tackles in his career, 17 shy of entering the school’s top-10 list and being the first to rank in the top 10 in career unassisted tackles since 2014.

Originally announced as part of the 2017 class, Green was a promising, physical defensive end/linebacker prospect from Oregon who was a bit of a February Signing Day surprise.

The four-star linebacker selected K-State over offers from Mississippi, Oregon State and Utah. But academic eligibility issues kept him from enrolling until spring 2018 as a grayshirt.

He redshirted in 2018 and spent the 2019 season getting his feet wet at the Division I level.

Green played in all 13 games in 2019 as a reserve linebacker and on special teams, making an immediate impact while totaling 34 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. He also chipped in three pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Green carded a season-high seven tackles at Mississippi State, a game that featured a fumble recovery that led to a K-State touchdown to put the Wildcats up by two scores.

He also had five stops and a sack against TCU, while he registered four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble against Bowling Green.

Green served as part of the regular linebacker rotation for all 10 regular season games in 2020, with starts at Iowa State and Baylor, and he set then-career highs with 39 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks on the year.

He registered 13 tackles at Baylor, the most by a Wildcat since 2017; set new career highs in tackles for loss (2.5) and sacks (1.5) against the Bears; and also had a sack at TCU.

Green recorded seven tackles at West Virginia, which included one for a loss. He broke up passes in his two starts at Iowa State and Baylor.

In 2021, Green played in all 13 games with 12 starts (only missing the one start due to a targeting-related suspension, which might be his one in-game weakness, although a few of those calls were suspect at best), leading the team in both tackles (89) and tackles for loss (16) as he earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors from the league’s coaches.

He ranked 18th nationally and fourth in the Big 12 with 5.3 solo tackles per game, and also ranked 22nd in the nation and third in the conference with two fumble recoveries.

Green finished the 2021 season ranked eighth in the Big 12 Conference with 6.85 tackles per game, the highest ranking by a Wildcat since 2017. He had 69 solo stops on the year, just three shy of the school’s top-10 list, while he was two tackles for loss shy of the top 10.

Green totaled at least nine tackles in five games, becoming the first Wildcat with at least nine tackles in five games since Elijah Lee did it in 2016. He tallied a season-high 11 stops at Texas, while he had nine tackles each against Stanford, Nevada, TCU and Baylor.

His effort against the Bears included three tackles for loss, while he had 2.5 tackles for loss against TCU and two more tackles for loss in the Wildcats’ win over LSU in the Texas Bowl.

His two tackles for loss against the Tigers tied for the seventh most in K-State bowl history.

Green also recorded sacks against Nevada, West Virginia and Baylor, while his fumble recoveries came against Southern Illinois and TCU.

A preseason All-Big 12 honoree entering the Big 12 Championship season in 2022, he again finished as an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection by the league’s coaches.

Green was voted a team captain and started 13 games last season, ranking fifth on the team with 58 tackles to go along with 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, two interceptions and four total passes defended en route to All-Big 12 accolades for the second straight year.

He tallied a season-high 10 tackles in the Big 12 Championship game against TCU, and maybe one none more important than teaming with Eli Huggins for a tackle on 4th and goal inside the 1-yard line in overtime prior to Ty Zentner’s kicking the game-winning field goal.

Green also had seven tackles against both Missouri and West Virginia, and he tallied an 11-yard sack in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama. His two interceptions on the year tied for the second most by a Big 12 linebacker during the 2022 season.

Green’s interceptions came in back-to-back games against Missouri and Tulane, making him the first Wildcat linebacker with picks in consecutive games since Arthur Brown did it in 2012 (against Texas Tech and West Virginia).

He teamed with safety Kobe Savage to give K-State the same two players with interceptions in the same consecutive games since 2014 (Dante Barnett and Randall Evans both did it versus West Virginia and Kansas).

Green returned his interception against Tulane 49 yards, the longest return by a Wildcat since 2013 (when Dante Barnett went for 51 yards against Michigan) and the longest return by a K-State linebacker since 2008 (when Alex Hrebec ran it back 51 yards vs. Iowa State).

He also batted down passes against both Tulane and Texas Tech. Read more about his injuries and decision to return for a sixth season in D. Scott Fritchen’s great piece here.

Prior to K-State, Green prepped at Madison High School under head coach Don Johnson Jr.

With the Senators, he earned second-team all-state honors from The Oregonian, while he also was a two-time first-team all-conference honoree.

Green was named one of the top 250 prospects in the Class of 2017 by Rivals.

The organization also viewed him as the 10th-best inside linebacker in the nation and the third-best player in the state of Oregon.