Riley Green Reveals That Actually Grew Up Playing Soccer Before Becoming A College Football Star

More than a star football player.

Riley Green is known today for being a country music hit maker who’s easy on the eyes. The Alabama native recently released the deluxe edition of Don’t Mind If I Do, gifting fans with a few new songs like “Cowboy As It Gets” featuring Randy Houser, and “I Just Need You” featuring the country music up-and-comer Hannah McFarland.

The four-time CMA Award-nominated artist, like many other country artists, lived many lives before pursuing music as a full-time career. Most Riley Green fans know that he thought he’d work in construction his whole life, while playing cover shows at local restaurants and bars. And long before that, Riley Green was a reality TV star and a star athlete.

But today specifically, we are looking at his sports highlight reel.

Riley Green was actually the starting QB at Jacksonville State University from 2007 to 2009 after walking on. During that time, he began to take an interest in playing music and ultimately decided to pursue a career in music.

Specifically, Riley once remembered a game his grandaddy was at where he took a big hit from a defensive end, which caused him to do “three cartwheels,” which also led his grandpa to “give somebody hell” on the other end of the field for I guess not throwing a flag on the play due to how hard Riley was hit. After coming to that one game, his grandpa encouraged him to “start messin’ around with that guitar a little more,” which is southern for “This whole football thing is probably not going to work out” in a charming “bless your heart” kind of way.

However, football was not the sport where Riley Green got his legs as an athlete. During a recent interview with JOE while he was on his recent European tour, Riley Green revealed that he was an avid soccer player before switching over to football.

During the interview, Green was asked if the Super Bowl was bigger than the World Cup. Riley Green admitted that he’s never watched the World Cup or been an avid soccer player, but revealed that he used to play on the field.

“How offensive is the word soccer? Nobody’s offended? Okay, just checking. We called it soccer. I played soccer for six years. We didn’t have pee wee football when I was growing up.”

Green then shares with the interviewer that he played the position of striker and enjoyed kicking around a ball through college, even while he was dedicated to football.

“Yeah, I played a little bit in college. And I still enjoy soccer, though, and I still think I’d enjoy watching it if I could get into knowing who’s on what team and that kind of stuff. I keep up with college football.”

The FIFA World Cup is headed to the States in 2026, so there is time for Green to get into the game before that event. That would be very fun to cheer on the qualified teams. Since the United States is co-hosting the event with Mexico and Canada, they are automatically qualified to play. Other teams that are already qualified include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Paraguay, South Korea, Tunisia, USA, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan.

Time will tell if Riley Green becomes a soccer fan, but in the meantime, I’m sure fans would love to see some old home videos of Riley in his cleats.

While you’re here, check out the entire interview:

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