William Alexander Green (born November 3, 1965) is a former American football safety in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Indiana University.

Early years

Green attended Glenbard West High School, where he was a two-way player at running back and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. He accepted a football scholarship from Indiana University. As a freshman, he was a backup running back, registering 17 carries for 32 yards. As a sophomore, he was a backup behind Bobby Howard, posting 68 carries for 168 yards, one touchdown, 24 receptions for 189 yards and 18 kickoff returns for 311 yards. As a junior, he was moved to cornerback and was named a starter, finishing with one interception. As a senior, he was the starter at

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

. He led the team with 5 interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and received second-team All-Big Ten honors.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Green was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys after the

1987 NFL Draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Marq ...

. He was waived on August 31. After the NFLPA strike was declared on the third week of the 1987 season, those contests were canceled (reducing the 16 game season to 15) and the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

decided that the games would be played with replacement players. He was re-signed to be a part of the Dallas replacement team that was given the mock name "Rhinestone Cowboys" by the media. He started 3 games at

. He had one interception against the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. He was released on October 26, at the end of the strike.

Personal life

Green is the General Counsel for CareerBuilder.com.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Alex 1965 births Living people People from Glen Ellyn, Illinois Players of American football from DuPage County, Illinois American football safeties Indiana Hoosiers football players Dallas Cowboys players National Football League replacement players