Expect to see more of Northwestern freshman RB Treyvon Green

Treyvon Green can look at his mother, Felecia, and know that sometimes his life isn’t all that difficult. Felecia Green is a single mother and raised Treyvon, the youngest of three, while working three jobs.

So when the Northwestern true-freshman running back has a rough day on the field or in the classroom, he thinks of what Felecia is going through, and he knows he has it pretty good.

“She’s taught me to be your own man, and that’s part of the reason why I came out here,” Green said. “I can grow on my own, and she set that up for me. She’d work until 2 in the morning, but she always went to my games. Hearing about what is going on in her world and what she has to carry – my grandmother is ill, and my mom is taking care of her – makes me want to work even harder.”

Green, a 5-10, 215-pounder out of Mesquite, Texas, burned his redshirt in the Wildcats’ season-opening victory at Boston College, then saw more significant playing time against Eastern Illinois a week later. Green ran for 70 yards and scored his first college touchdown against the Panthers.

And now that backfield mate Mike Trumpy is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, Green is expected to run the ball more. He’s listed behind senior Jacob Schmidt on the depth chart for the game Saturday against No. 12 Michigan (6:07, BTN, 1000-AM) at Ryan Field.

“Honestly, I don’t know what pressure is,” Green said. “And my mom always told me that pressure busts pipes, and I don’t want my pipes to ever be broken.”

Green committed to NU without ever having visited Evanston. He was in the car with his mother when coach Pat Fitzgerald called and Âoffered him a scholarship. Fitzgerald’s enthusiasm won Green over. Green also was looking at Wake Forest, Baylor, Texas, Western Kentucky and Louisiana-Monroe.

“We were on the way to see my grandmother,” Green said. “I was in the back seat, and he had called me, and he had so much energy that it pumped me up, and my mom asked me, ‘What is going on?’ I talked with my family, and a couple of hours Âlater, I accepted.”

Green took his college football career seriously from the start. He came to campus in the early Âsummer and took two summer-school courses, while he worked out with teammates and learned the Wildcats’ system.

Fitzgerald has said that Green reminds him of Tyrell Sutton, the Wildcats’ last back to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season (1,474 in 2005). The comparison isn’t lost on Green.

“To compare me to someone who was good here makes me feel like they see a future for me,” Green said. “I like that. Coach Fitz always told me to work hard, so if I keep doing that, I will stay on the field.”

Persa had setback in rehab

Quarterback Dan Persa said this week that he had a setback in June while he was rehabilitating his repaired right Achilles tendon. The injury set his rehab back about a month and was the reason why he had to sit out the Wildcats’ first three games.

Persa said he felt “it was a done deal” during spring football that he would be the starting quarterback against Boston College – until he reinjured the Achilles in June.

“I planted my foot wrong, and it just kind of happened,” Persa said. “That hit set me back about a month. I was pretty upset.”

In his first start since Nov. 13, Persa took himself out of the Wildcats’ 38-35 loss last Saturday at Illinois when his Achilles stiffened up in the second half after he got hit. But the move was precautionary, and Persa will start against Michigan.