Cayden Green is showing his versatility: "I get put wherever I'm needed"
After the Missouri Tigers’ second scrimmage, coach Eliah Drinkwitz sent a message through the media.
“We’re gonna make a change next week and see,” Drinkwitz said. “… Next week we’ll make a change and we’re going to see if we got a different starting five.”
And make a change the Tigers did.
AP preseason second-team All-American guard Cayden Green had moved out to left tackle.
Green was a left tackle coming out of high school. But had played every important rep of his first two years of college ball at left guard.
And though it was the first time media had seen Green on the outside since he joined Mizzou, it wasn’t a new switch for Green.
“Yeah, all summer and spring, I’ve been working, you know, right guard, left tackle and left guard and a little bit of center,” Green said. “So I can pretty much, you know, I’ve been working to play wherever.”
Original move inside
As a true freshman at Oklahoma, Green started out at left tackle. He was the No. 8 overall left tackle coming out of Lee’s Summit North in Kansas City as a four-star recruit in the Class of 2023.
But he quickly moved into left guard. Both because he was more comfortable inside and it was what the Sooners needed from him that season.
“I get put wherever I’m needed. So it was pretty, pretty much that simple,” Green said.
But when he transferred home to play for the Tigers, Mizzou was facing a competition to replace left tackle Javon Foster.
Although Green had the ability to bounce back out to the outside, there were a lot of benefits to having him stay on the interior for the 2024 season.
“Last spring I was, I just transferred,” Green said. “Obviously, I played my whole freshman year pretty much at guard, all the valuable reps at guard. So obviously I was a lot more comfortable inside. And it was also a new offense, a new scheme, and even a new conference. So I feel like now I kind of know what to expect. So that’ll kind of help me with the transition.”
Green said his size is a key factor in his belief in his ability at left tackle.
Standing at 6-foot-5 and 324 pounds, the true junior hit the most common height of the nine offensive tackles taken in the first three rounds of this year’s NFL Draft. And he would have been the second heaviest behind only former teammate Armand Membou.
“I think my arms are pretty long, you know, I like to think I’m pretty athletic,” Green said. “I guess we’ll see here in the next few weeks. But, yeah, I’m just trying to play ball.”
Taking advice
And along with Membou, Green spent the past year learning from another tackle actively trying to make an NFL roster.
Last year’s Mizzou left tackle, Marcus Bryant (who stands taller, but lighter, than Green at 6-7, 320 pounds) is still on roster with the New England Patriots after being picked in the seventh round.
Green said he still talks with both Bryant and Membou regularly, but he is taking extra tips from Membou, who was taken with the No. 7 overall pick.
“I don’t even know if Marcus knows about it,” Green said. “He kind of, when me and him talk, we just, you know, I asked him how he’s doing. He tells me what’s going on and stuff. But Armand I talk to a lot, he’s throwing me tips, he’s throwing me pointers. So I’m showing him clips.”
As Green moves forward at left tackle, he’s like improving his draft stock in case he follows Membou’s path and forgoes his senior season. But while he’s still in Columbia, he will do whatever the team needs.
Even if that means moving a little farther around the field.
“Oh man, I’ll play, I’ll play whatever. I can throw it, I can throw it to myself and catch it,” Green said with a laugh.
