TAMPA, Fla. — Who says you can’t go home? At this school, in this sand, Jeremiah Green is home.

What You Need To Know

  •  Jeremiah Green starred on the football field and the track at Hillsborough High School

  •  The 2013 graduate recently was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame

  •  After graduating from Hillsborough, Jeremiah became an All-American and ACC triple jump champion at Clemson

This former Hillsborough High School football and track star is back with his alma mater, helping coach the Terrier’s track and field team. He leads them through the intricacies of jumping, working on technique and critiquing their form. It’s making them better because he knows this can be more than just rolling around in the dirt.

“When I told my grandma I was going to college to triple jump, she said ‘To play in the sand?’” Green recalled.

Green did more than play in the sand. He graduated from Hillsborough in 2013 as a state champion and the top triple jumper in the nation. After a stint at the University of Alabama, he transferred to Clemson where he earned All-American honors and became an ACC triple jump champion. He also got his Masters Degree in Youth Development Leadership.

That’s why he’s coaching these Terriers, to help lead them to bigger and better things. Green knows that this is more than exercise and competition. For some, like him, this is a way out.

“I really didn’t have no time to get in trouble,” he said. “So, this was my trouble, in a lot of ways. Yeah, it saved my life.”

He grew up just down the street from Hillsborough High in Robles Park. Both his parents died when he was only 11 years old. Raised by his grandmother, sports became his world, especially since his world of friends was crumbling around him.

“I lost a lot of them to gun violence,” Green said. “To be honest, to go to college. I think I’m the only one. I think I’m the only one.”

Green is proud of where he came from. And his alma mater is proud of him.

Hillsborough High honored its latest Hall of Fame class at a ceremony in the school’s auditorium. And Green was one of the honorees. He thanked his coaches for helping him find success on the football field and the track. And he thanked his family for supporting his sports passions.

His love of sports produced some great results, and now his name will be encased in the Hillsborough Hall forever.

“Ahh, so many memories. So many memories,” he said.

Green did special things on this football field and on the track and in the sandpit. Everything has come full circle for him now that he’s coaching these Terriers. And he’s teaching them more than just how to long jump and triple jump.

“If my story can inspire one of these kids to, you know, to go to college,” he said. “To, you know, what I just got to give myself a chance, an opportunity to be great.”

Track allowed Green to see the world. And it stopped him from getting into trouble in the neighborhood. And now it’s helping him pay it forward.