Super Bowl 2025: Eagles’ superstar pulled me back from the brink, ex-college player says

NEW ORLEANS — On his first day back from spring break in 2011, former Alabama safety Robby Green’s life changed when he found a letter taped to his locker, summoning him for a random drug test.

Green, who was coming off a year-long suspension in 2010 after testing positive for marijuana, tested positive for marijuana again. Alabama dismissed Green from the team that spring, sending him into depression. Later that winter, he watched his Alabama teammates win a national championship, which only made him more upset.

In 2012, the former four-star recruit went undrafted and his aspirations of becoming an NFL player eventually disappeared, making his mental health worse. For the next two years, he relived all of his mistakes and struggled to find happiness.

But Green’s passion for life and football slowly returned after he started training a high school wide receiver in 2014. At the time, DeVonta Smith was at Amite High School (Louisiana). It was three years before he debuted at Alabama and won a title and more than 10 years before he’d have a homecoming of sorts with a Super Bowl matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans on Sunday.

Little did Green know then that Smith’s bond with him would be life-changing. Green credits Smith for resetting his mind at a difficult time and helping him find purpose. Because of Smith’s inspiration, Green has found a calling in motivating the next generation of Louisiana high school football players. Today, he runs the Dynamic Training Performance Center in New Orleans. The indoor facility, which includes two turf fields, has become a hotbed for college recruits with big dreams.

“I believe me and Smitty got close because I was going through a time of depression, like I just got done playing football,” Green told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday at the Dynamic Training Performance Center. “I didn’t do it the right way, right? I let myself down, which ultimately let my parents and my family down. And I had to change my narrative, which is why I jumped into training. And Smitty was one of the first kids I started working with on that rise of changing my narrative of being more positive.

“I think he saw that, too. He saw me as a guy who failed and got back up and now is trying to make a name for himself. And he’s pumping positive energy into us.”

It’s a feeling that has lasted for more than a decade now.

On Wednesday during Super Bowl week, Smith told reporters “the way you carry yourself, the way you treat people” is what matters in his life.

Green said Smith has noticed his caring side from the beginning of their friendship. Smith, 26, has remained loyal even as he’s become a star in the NFL.

When Smith was at Alabama, he came home one weekend to work out with Green and Green’s trainer, who invited them to his gym because Green didn’t have one yet. The trainer expected Smith to work out with him — until Smith intervened. Smith only wanted to train under Green.

Green recalled Smith telling him: “Robby, OG listen, I love you, and no offense to your trainer, right? But I want to work with you.”

Those were the words that Green needed to hear after a tough few months of trying to get his training facility started.

Green applied for more than 20 commercial leasing licenses and was rejected from every place, so he considered moving to Texas or Alabama to run his training facility. Eventually, he found a spot in New Orleans.

“That put a shock in my body when (Smith) told me that,” Green said. “It just puts things in so much perspective and showed me that I should be doing this.”

Now, Green has paid forward the connection with Smith, becoming a role model for the athletes he coaches — with help from his friend along the way.

During Tuesday’s workout session, Green lectured a kid about improving his grades, so he could continue to play football. He shook each person’s hand as they left the building and shared his phone number with the new guys. Everyone stood around him after a workout and listened to his message.

“We have kids that have parents in jail, one parent in jail, or dad died, so they don’t have any guidance,” Green said. “Or mom and dad is on crack, so they really don’t have anything. And it’s tough because my job doesn’t stop. I’m a father figure to all these young men in my building. So it’s a 24/7 job with me. So in here we’re working.”

In a football sense, Green said that Smith provides an example for his young players. A person’s will and mindset matter more than his size. At 6-foot, 170 pounds, Smith entered the NFL with concerns that he was too small.

“When you go and start speaking DeVonta’s story about his size and his makeup, it puts things in perspective because now they start looking at themselves like, ‘Well, I’m not that much smaller. He’s the same size as me,‘ Green said. ”Well, what does he have that you don’t? The faith, the work ethic, right? Accountability, the discipline, the will to just want to be successful.

“Not just saying it because you want to look good on Instagram or Twitter or Tiktok. He could care less about that. He’s trying to create generational wealth for himself and his family. I told him two days ago when he FaceTimed me, ‘You’re impacting so many lives, my brother.’”

Jaylan Ash, a 6-foot, 160-pound wide receiver from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, Louisiana, believes he can follow in Smith’s footsteps and become a Heisman Trophy winner one day.

“Even my father, I told him I want to play football at a young age. He was like, ‘Football? You’re too skinny for that,‘” Ash told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday.

Ja’ir Burks, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound wide receiver from Jesuit High School in New Orleans, said everyone “talk about his weight,” so he’s motivated to prove people wrong like Smith.

According to Green, Smith makes time to talk to his young players at any point in the year. In his NFL offseason, Smith sits with Green’s players to answer their questions about football and life. During the season, Smith shares advice to some struggling players.

“I can call Smitty, get him on the phone right now, and Smitty will sit there for 30 minutes to an hour to get that kid to feel good about himself,” Green said. “I think that says a lot about his heart because I think he takes it upon himself to be that guy. … He takes that purpose serious, where he has almost a duty to be that advocate for young men such as himself.”

Green has his Alabama jersey framed in his office, and when he pulls kids in for a conversation, he brings up the story of how he made a few mistakes that cost him his career. He talks to the kids about their goals and dreams and then helps them reach them.

Eleven years ago, Green was an ex-football player who was struggling to find his identity outside of the sport. Then Smith came into his life and showed him what his purpose was.

“I don’t have that chip on my shoulder anymore of being the guy who has to turn their negative into a positive, so people won’t be reminded of the guy who had to leave Alabama and didn’t make it, that had every opportunity but blew it,” Green said. “I didn’t want to be that guy.”

Along the way, Green has imparted wisdom to Smith, too, even if he doesn’t see it that way. He’s turned his pain into lessons to keep his close friend on track.

“I ain’t gonna say I scared him straight, but I made him realize, ‘Well, I know somebody who didn’t do it the right way and look where his life went. So I know what I shouldn’t do.‘ And so I think that’s the impact I had on Smitty,” Green said.

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