Finally, a Green Light : After Spending Three Seasons on the Rams’ Bench, Former UCLA Star Gets a Chance to Prove Himself in Denver

In college, he was, at times, impossible to stop. But in the pros, he found it impossible to start.

Gaston Green broke plenty of records at UCLA, but he never could break into the Ram lineup under Coach John Robinson.

Green was a 5-foot-11, 189-pound back with shifty moves playing for a coach who adored bruising, straight-ahead runners.

So why did the Rams make Green a first-round choice in the 1988 draft? Why did they pass on running backs such as Thurman Thomas to choose one who didn’t fit into their game plan? Although he denies it, some said that Robinson was pushed into taking Green by others in the organization.

All Green knows is that he showed up in Anaheim as the leading rusher in UCLA history, then was told to take a seat and they would get to him.

They never did.

For three frustrating years, he sat on the bench, watching other running backs come and go. When Green arrived, the Rams were rebuilding their backfield after trading Eric Dickerson. Greg Bell figured to be the main man, and he was for a while, as Green sat.

Along came Cleveland Gary, and still Green sat.

When Gary had problems hanging onto the ball, the Rams called on Marcus Dupree, out of football for five years after a major knee injury.

Green, hampered some by injuries, carried only 129 times in three seasons with the Rams, gaining 451 yards.

So you can imagine his joy in April when he was traded to the Denver Broncos along with a fourth-round draft pick for offensive tackle Gerald Perry and a 12th-round pick.

Had Green not been traded, the Rams would have owed him a reporting bonus of $175,000.

“I feel real good,” Green said from the Broncos’ training camp in Greeley, Colo. “This is a real good situation for me. I’m getting a lot of work and I feel real comfortable with the plays. I feel like I’m starting all over.”

Green couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Longtime Bronco back Sammy Winder has retired, and Bobby Humphrey, the team’s leading rusher last season, is holding out, leaving center stage to Green.

Green is making the most of it. He started against the Detroit Lions in Saturday’s Hall of Fame game and was the Broncos’ leading rusher, gaining 33 yards in seven carries while seeing limited action. He got off a few nifty runs on the Broncos’ opening drive.

In two earlier scrimmages, he gained 107 yards in 12 carries, including a 39-yard touchdown run. On the scoring play, Green appeared to be caught at the five-yard line but shook free to reach the end zone.

The play elicited a smile from Bronco Vice President John Beake, who said: “Bobby who?”

Nobody expects Green to take Humphrey’s job, but there would appear to be plenty of room for both on a team that desperately needs some depth at running back. Last season, Humphrey had 1,202 yards rushing and quarterback John Elway had 258. All of the other Denver running backs combined gained 332.

“He’s not a 215- or 220- or 230-pound back,” Bronco running backs coach Mo Forte said of Green. “Most backs will be bigger than he is in the NFL. But the times I’ve seen him, he’s been very impressive. He has a lot of quickness, speed and determination. The Rams like the big backs, and they’ve been very successful with that. Their way is not the only way, and our way is not the only way.”

Elway is enthusiastic about Green.

“I remember seeing some of his big games when he was at UCLA,” Elway said. “I think what he needed was just to get the opportunity. I don’t know what happened in Los Angeles, but we’re happy to have him here. He’s got that great speed. He gets through the line and gets to the secondary in a hurry. . . . He’s got adios speed.”

Green holds Bruin records for most yards in a season (1,405 in 1986) and a career (3,731), most games of 100 or more yards in a career (20) and most games of 200 or more yards in both a season (two) and a career (three).

“I’m happy for the young man,” Ram assistant coach Marv Goux said. “He wants to play, and maybe a change is what he needed. I like Gaston Green. He was banged up here, but he never did a thing for us.

“I’m happy that he’s doing well there, but just remember one thing. The season hasn’t started yet. You can’t judge anything until the day after the Super Bowl.”

Said Green of his Ram days: “I never did get a chance. I was just not Robinson’s type of back. I try to make them miss me. He likes the guys that get the three or four hard yards.

“He would always say during the week that I would play. I would get in all the practice time. But when it came game time, I did not play. It was real frustrating. After a while, even when he’d say I was going to play, I did not look forward to it because I knew I was not going to get in. And when I did get in, it was for one or two plays. You can’t do nothing with that.”

Still, Green said, his Ram years weren’t a total waste.

“I learned what it takes to be a runner in the pros,” he said. “I learned how to get four or five yards when you can’t break it. I learned how to relax. In college, you have two or three guys on the defense who are fast and good. In the pros, everybody is fast and everybody is good.”

Now Green wants to show how good he can be. He is still not a starter, but he figures he is a lot closer. And a lot happier.

“I felt,” he said, “like I’d be on the Ram bench forever.”