Collegiate Times

AUSTEN MEREDITH / SPPS

A 16-year-old Erick Green made a decision few would be willing to make.

Green decided to move away from his home in Winchester, Va., to spend his senior year at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax, Va. — all in the name of basketball.

It isn’t the only situation Green has faced where he did everything he could to accomplish his goals; however, it is a perfect example of the ambition that’s driven his success.

When Green was thrust into the starting point guard role in mid-December for Virginia Tech, it was familiar territory, and he was ready for the challenge.

In Winchester, Green spent his first three years at Millbrook High School playing for head coach Scott Mankins.

From the moment Green set foot on the court at Millbrook, his talent was undeniable. Mankins immediately noticed his young guard’s potential, and pushed him further to see how much better he could get.

“I think his hunger and desire is the thing that continued to improve,” Mankins said. “When he was young, things came very easy to him. Any time a new challenge was put out here for him, he just continued to work to beat that challenge.”

However, at the end of his freshman season, tragedy struck for Green.

Fellow teammate and senior John Morgan died in a car crash just two weeks after his graduation. It was an experience that brought Green and his teammates even closer.

“(Morgan’s) parents were very, very involved with the school and with all of the boys on the team,” said Tamara Green, Erick’s mother. “After he died, his mom would continue coming to the games and it was a very emotional thing for Erick and all of the boys.

“It was a very difficult time and I think that following year, there was a lot camaraderie with the team — just trying to uphold the memory of John.”

Despite the tragedy, Green pushed forward and was invited to travel with Team Triple Threat after his sophomore year — one of the premier AAU teams in the country, which has since been renamed Team Takeover.

The team boasts strong alumni, including starting Maryland forward Adrian Bowie, starting Georgetown guard Chris Wright, Tech’s own Jeff Allen and Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson. Current Tech assistant coach Adrian Autry was a former coach with the squad.

Green was exposed to the best competition the country had to offer.

It was one of Triple Threat’s coaches, Ken Johnson, who first suggested Green transfer to Paul VI, where he was also an assistant. The move would allow Green to play with better talent and receive more attention from big-name college programs.

“At that time, his recruitment was really just George Mason,” Johnson said. “I thought that he had the talent to play high-major basketball and discussed with his mother and father that if there was ever a time he wanted to play at a higher level, we would be interested in him at Paul VI.”

He mulled over the offer for a while, but after failing to win a state title during his sophomore season, which he desperately wanted to dedicate to his teammate’s memory, Green decided he needed to give himself one more opportunity to finish what he started.

He scored 18.5 points per game, while dishing three assists and registering almost three steals per contest during his junior season. He led Millbrook to its first-ever AA State Championship and was named Group AA player of the year. It was a perfect way to end his career at Millbrook, while also commemorating Morgan.

Morgan continues to be a integral part of Green’s life. He wore Morgan’s number, 32, during his senior season at Paul VI and has made Morgan part of his game-time ritual.

“I always represent him,” Green said. “Before my games, I always tap my shoe and say ‘Jo-Ma,’ and it’s something I’m always going to do.”

At the end of his junior season, Green committed to play for Seth Greenberg at Virginia Tech and knew if he wanted to excel in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the competition Millbrook faced wouldn’t help him.

It was time to move on.

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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 24 issue of the Collegiate Times.