Will Wade saw Trey’Dez Green coming before most people knew what kind of player he could become.
Back when Wade was still LSU’s basketball coach, he offered a scholarship to the 6-foot-7 junior at East Feliciana High in Jackson, just outside Baton Rouge. Green was already putting up big numbers on the hardwood, averaging 27 points and 11 rebounds in the 2021-22 basketball season, but he was also turning heads on the football field. That fall, he caught 45 passes for 864 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior.
Green eventually chose football and signed with LSU for the 2024 season, but the basketball connection never really went away. At Southeastern Conference Media Days on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, Green said, “I had a great relationship with coach Will Wade,” and added, “He was one of the first people to offer me a basketball scholarship.”
Now Wade is back at LSU as the basketball coach, and the timing makes the whole thing even more interesting. LSU has struggled to finish its roster for the 2026-27 season, and a player with Green’s size and athletic profile would obviously fit the bill. Green said he still hasn’t talked with Wade about the possibility.
“I’m looking forward to having a conversation with him,” Green said. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet.
But I haven’t decided. I haven’t thought about playing basketball.”
For now, Green is leaning hard into football, where he has already become one of LSU’s most intriguing offensive weapons. He played briefly for Matt McMahon’s basketball team as a freshman in the 2024-25 season, logging 11 points, 10 rebounds and a blocked shot in 40 total minutes across six Southeastern Conference games.
His first game was a memorable one: he blocked a shot and sprinted the floor for a dunk at No. 4 Alabama on Jan. 25, 2025, in an 80-73 loss.
He did not play basketball this past season, choosing to focus on football after catching 33 passes for 433 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore in 2025. As a true freshman in 2024, he had 13 catches for 101 yards and four touchdowns. He’ll enter the 2026 season as one of the top tight ends in the SEC, if not the nation.
That path started with a decision Green says he made because football gave him a different kind of edge.
“I felt like I would be a unicorn in football,” he said of choosing the sport. “There’s a lot of 6-7 guys in the NBA or in college basketball.
There’s not that many in the NFL or college football. So, just being real with myself and having an understanding and making a grown-man decision.”
At East Feliciana, Green didn’t even start playing football until his sophomore year, but once he did, the production came fast. He became the starting tight end, caught two touchdowns in his first game and started drawing scholarship attention. When he transferred to Zachary High near Baton Rouge for his senior season in 2023, he posted 53 catches for 960 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Green said his early football days were simple and direct.
“My high school football career was just a bunch of me lining up at the outside receiver position and going to get the ball,” he said. “Running one route, really, and that was just the go ball.
There’s a lot of stuff that I still need to learn about the game of football. I’ve grown in the aspect of just learning the game.
I didn’t even know how to get in a three-point stance when I made it to the LSU. But I’ve learned to grow and to learn this game, and I love it so much.
The love that I have for this game and the way that this game creates so many relationships and outlets, it has opened so many doors for me.”
He also made it clear that transferring was never much of a consideration, in part because LSU was willing to match or nearly match whatever he might have found in the portal.
“It means everything to play at LSU,” Green said. “Me growing up in Jackson, Louisiana, probably a population of about 2,500 or 3,000 people, it’s everybody’s dream.
It’s every kid’s dream in Louisiana to go play for those three letters and two colors. It means so much to me that that’s my university.
It’s a blessing that I’ve been able to represent those people. And you just feel it when you’re there.
It’s unexplainable. I really can’t tell you in words about how amazing the place is and how it just feels like home.
From the time that I stepped on Victory Hill, and I walked down the hill, chills just going through my body. I just wanted to, and I just can’t wait to bring a winning environment back to Baton Rouge.”
Wade may be back in the mix, but Green sounds like a player who knows exactly where his priorities sit right now. Still, the fact that LSU once had him on the basketball radar - and may again - says plenty about just how rare his talent has always been.
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