Big Things In Store For Monmouth's Terrance Greene Jr.

WEST LONG BRANCH – As a St. Joseph’s Prep graduate Terrance Greene Jr. comes with an elite high school football pedigree, not to mention exceptional talent.

St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia is a high school football powerhouse that attracts the most competitive and talented young athletes in the area as well as being an academically demanding institution. There, you’re playing for a national championship year in and year out and being seen on national TV by recruiters which often opens the door to college scholarships.

“St. Joseph’s Prep made me the person I am today,” said Greene Jr. “Before I got there I was probably a little big headed about myself, but once I got there it made me see life from a different perspective. Being there helped me embrace selflessness and think about other people and see what they go through. It made me realize everything in life is not about myself; it is so much bigger than me. And I think that’s how we had so much success on the football field - we all bought in to that way of thinking and acting.”

In three varsity seasons at St. Joseph’s, Greene Jr.’s teams combined for a 32-6 overall record, including winning the Pennsylvania 6 A state championship in both 2014 and 2016.

In 2016, his senior season, St. Joseph’s went 14-0 while capturing the 6A championship and finishing ranked No.1 in Pennsylvania and sixth nationally by USA Today.

Greene Jr.’s head coach throughout his varsity career, Gabe Infante, was named Pennsylvania Coach of the Year in 2016. Two years later, Infante was awarded the Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year award after his team won another state championship – his fourth (2013, 14’, 16’, 18’) in nine years coaching at St. Joseph’s Prep.

“Terrance is a competitor with great work ethic and obviously great skill set,” said Infante. “But as a person he’s probably one of the few players that I’ve had in my career that genuinely and sincerely cared about everybody, including myself. He’s as good a young man that I’ve ever been around. He’s someone you kind of hope your daughter would bring home; just a wonderful, wonderful person.

“Terrance and I built a really strong relationship,” added Infante. “The Prep is not an easy place for young men from Terrance’s background to adjust to. There are a lot a challenges on and off the field for a young man coming into that environment. I really admired not only the way Terrance went about that but how he stayed consistent as a person throughout that. If you went back to the Prep and talked to anybody they would have fond memories of their interactions with Terrance; that speaks volumes for him. I love Terrance very, very much.”

Infante, who Greene Jr. has nothing but love and respect for, is currently in his third year as the running back coach at Temple University.

“Coach Infante is a second father figure to me,” said Greene Jr. “He always kept it real to me and never lied to me. Without him I wouldn’t be playing football at the level I am now. He helped me get to college and pushed to get the best out of me at all times. He helped me become the person I am today and without him I don’t know where I’d be.”

Incidentally, a teammate of his on that championship team, running back D’Andre Swift, was named Mr. Pennsylvania after rushing for 1,564 yards and 25 touchdowns that season before committing to the University of Georgia where he ran for 2,885 yards and 20 touchdowns in three seasons.

Swift declared for the 2020 draft as a true junior and was drafted by the Detroit Lions with the third pick in the second round. As a rookie he rushed for 521 yards and eight touchdowns averaging 4.6 yards per attempt and added 46 receptions for 357 yards and two touchdowns. CBS Sports recently tabbed him as a second-year player primed for a breakout.

“D’Andre is one of my closest friends,” said Greene Jr. “He’s kind of like a brother to me, I talk to him just about every day. Whenever I’m not up here I try to go train with him as much as I can just to see things from his perspective with him being in the NFL. That’s a lot of knowledge I like to get and the work ethic is something I like to see for myself.”

Although Swift got most the recognition on that team, rightly so, Infante is quick to point out that Greene Jr.’s contributions were vital to the level of success that team realized.

“Terrance was a huge part of that team and by no means took a back seat to D’Andre,” said Infante. “Often times when you have a player like D’Andre people tend to focus in on him but Terrance gave us that threat on the outside and he really took advantage of those one-on-ones on the outside. He also had a very good season for us on special teams. He was an explosive player and his kickoff return for a touchdown in the state final really put that game away for us. Terrance always had a knack for making the big play at the right time, so yeah, we couldn’t have accomplished those things without him.”

As Infante noted, Greene Jr. was a key cog on that 2016 championship team and was highly recruited by numerous FCS schools besides Monmouth, including Bryant, Georgetown, Morgan St. and Tennessee Tech to name a few. As a senior he had 48 receptions for 741 yards and nine touchdowns and another 21 receptions for 399 yards and three touchdowns as a junior finishing his career with 76 receptions for 1,241 yards and 12 touchdowns.

“I honestly thought Terrance was under recruited coming out of high school,” said Infante. “And now in my current role at Temple University I believe he’s as good a player you’re going to find at the collegiate level.”

Following the 2016 season Greene Jr. was a first team All-Philadelphia and All-Catholic league selection.

“Anytime you can get a player from a big-time program it benefits you and your program on the college level,” said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan. “Terrance came from a very competitive program with a lot of structure to it and they’re used to winning there. So he knows how to win, he grew up learning to win, and at the high school level those are extremely valuable traits when you get to the college level.”

Towards the end of Greene Jr.’s senior season Monmouth began recruiting him with coach T.J. DiMuzio as the lead recruiter.

“T.J. recruits that area and he was excited when he first met Terrance,” said Callahan. “And then as a staff we fell in love with his video and the more we got to know him the more we fell in love with him as a person.”

Greene Jr. didn’t know much about Monmouth at the time but the more he more he learned about the program the more he liked.

“Coach DiMuzio, who was the receivers coach back then, came to one of our practices but I had no clue who he was or who he was there for. Then word got around that Monmouth was looking at me and a short time later he contacted me and told me I was on their radar. Two weeks later on my birthday he called me and offered me a scholarship and when I visited I could tell Monmouth was a program on the rise and felt this was the place for me to grow as a person and player.”

As a redshirted freshman in 2018 Greene Jr. saw playing time in 11 games with two starts backing up FCS All-American wide receiver Reggie White Jr. catching 16 passes for 142 yards, including his first career touchdown in the ninth game of the season.

“Reggie was an example for me on and off the field,” said Greene Jr. “I was his backup so everything he did I had to pay very close attention to because when I got in the game I had to do what he was doing. He was the prime example of how to work and trusting the grind. As the years went on he became great and shouldered the team. That alone gave me something to watch every day in practice and something to strive for.”

As a sophomore in 2019 Greene Jr. stepped into White Jr.’s starting spot and had a breakout season as part of Monmouth’s prolific passing attack led by record-breaking quarterback Kenji Bahar along with then junior wideout Lonnie Moore IV.

Greene Jr.’s 10 receiving touchdowns led the team and his 65 receptions for 916 yards were second on the team behind Moore’s 74 catches and 1,022 yards. He was a second team All-Big South selection and a sophomore All-American Honorable Mention pick by HeroSports.

“Not surprised at all,” Callahan said when asked about Greene Jr.’s breakout season. “We felt all along he was a player of that caliber and had the potential to make big and explosive plays in our offense. He and the combination of Lonnie Moore IV have become great threats for us – they make it difficult on defenses and I expect them to pick up right where they left off.”

Moore IV was a 2019 first team All-Big South selection and both are All-Big South Preseason picks while Moore IV is also a third team FCS Preseason All-American selection as a kick returner. Greene Jr. and Moore IV have the potential to be as good a wide receiver combination as there is in the FCS.

“He gets the best out of me and I get the best out of him,” said Greene Jr. on his relationship with Moore IV. “It’s a competitive thing. He makes me work harder and I also make him work harder. You can see in the 2019 season that we were there for each other. He builds my confidence and I build his. In the offseason we train together and he’s one of my best friends on the team.”

Bahar has moved on and last Thursday Monmouth named senior Max Smyth as the starting quarterback after a spirited battle this spring with true freshman Tony Muskett.

“I actually live with Max and trained with him in the offseason, we’re both South Jersey guys,” said Greene Jr. “Max is my guy and he’s going to fit in perfectly. I have total confidence in him and he’s going to pick up right where Kenji left off.”

Smyth has been around the program for four years now so his familiarity with the system played a role in the decision to start him.

“At the end of the day we felt Max won the competition at the spot,” said Callahan on the decision. “I think his maturity and the fact that he’s a little older certainly helped in that decision. But at the end of the day he performed very well, not to say Tony didn’t, it’s just that we felt at this point Max was the way to go.”

As senior at Palmyra high school, Smyth led the state in passing with 3,090 yards and 33 touchdowns finishing with 65 touchdowns in his two years as a starter. He spent one season at Jireh Prep in North Carolina prior to committing to Monmouth.

When all is said and done, everyone seems to be in agreement that as good a player Greene Jr. is, he’s even a better person and Callahan is totally on board with that.

“Terrance is very genuine, very honest and he’s somebody who is a great teammate because he always has the best interest of the team at the forefront in everything he does,” said Callahan. And he’s somebody that’s extremely reliable and dependable - someone we can always count on.”

Monmouth opens its 2021 spring season this Saturday at former NEC foe and first-year Big South member Robert Morris.

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