Brett Greenwood: No run-of-the-mill player

Former Iowa defensive back Brett Greenwood collapsed during a workout Friday at Pleasant Valley High School just outside the Quad Cities. Reportedly, Greenwood was airlifted from Trinity Medical Center in Bettendorf to University Hospitals in Iowa City. Trinity officials said Greenwood is in critical condition.

This is one of the deals where you're at a loss for words because it's just so out of the blue. You don't expect 23-year-olds who were just in an NFL training camp the week before to have their bodies give out like that. I'm just happy that more-dire reports on the Internet turned out to be premature and wrong, and like you, I hope they stay wrong.

For those who haven't been dialed into Hawkeye football the last four years, Greenwood was a vital player to Iowa. He started 46 games at safety. How many major-college players start 46 games? He had 12 career interceptions, including one in his final game, last season's Insight Bowl. He had 229 tackles, and broke up a lot of passes.

I'm just throwing some snippets out here that were reported over the last four years in the Gazette, starting with passages from one of Marc Morehouse's stories.

April 10, 2007

"Being around him, he prepared like he was ready to play even though he was red-shirting," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "He has a great attitude and is a great athlete. We like what we have seen so far." ...

Ed Morrissey, Greenwood's football coach at Pleasant Valley High School, knew he had a good athlete when he made Greenwood a starting defensive back, punt returner, wingback and backup quarterback as a sophomore.

Morrissey wasn't surprised when Greenwood told him he was going to walk on at Iowa. Greenwood's work ethic made Morrissey a believer.

"He'd be out on the field long after practice was over, running routes with a couple teammates," Morrissey said. "We'd come out of coaches meetings after practice and would be taking off to go home and we'd see Brett and a couple other guys, running routes and throwing the ball.

"I'd say, `Hey, doggone it, we've got to get home, we've got families, we've got to get home for dinner.' " ...

Greenwood probably sealed the deal with his performance at the 2006 state basketball tournament. During Pleasant Valley's semifinal matchup against Linn-Mar, he drew Jason Bohannon.

Bohannon went into the game averaging 27.6 points. Greenwood held the future Wisconsin Badger to four points on 2-for-11 from the field. ...

"You could tell that Reese had strong feelings about him in recruiting," Ferentz said. "He knew more about Brett than any of us. He knew about his basketball, the other things that he was doing, the intangibles. All of those things that (Morgan) had a sense for, we saw when he came to camp."

Greenwood also came with excellent bloodlines.

His dad, Dave, a Cedar Rapids Kennedy graduate, was a first-team all-Big 8 offensive lineman at Iowa State in 1976. Brett's sister, Lindsey, earned a soccer scholarship at Nebraska.

"He's a straight arrow," Morrissey said. "He's the hardest worker I ever had. He's the kind of kid you put a lot of faith in."

April 29, 2007

"Greenwood, that guy's got some special talent," Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker said. "He's got a break on the ball. Everything is brand new to him, but he's a competitive kid."

Oct. 13, 2007

Freshman free safety Brett Greenwood picked off an Eddie McGee pass at Iowa's goal line with 1:12 left, saving the Hawkeyes' 10-6 victory over No. 18 Illinois.

"He kind of reminds me of (former Hawkeye Sean) Considine," Iowa DT Mitch King said. "He might not be the fastest guy or the most athletic, but he knows where the ball will be and where he should be."

May 25, 2008

"At safety, Brett Greenwood from Pleasant Valley is like a different guy this year. He's gone from a little young guy in a little yellow school bus to a college football player." -- Parker at an I-Club event.

Dec. 18, 2008 after Greenwood started every game as a sophomore:

"(Greenwood) has become more assertive out there," Parker said. "The free safety has to be the quarterback out there, and here he was last year, a freshman just off the yellow school bus and he's supposed to tell other guys what to do. That's not easy."

June 30, 2010. Greenwood on preseason hype:

"We might hear it if we go home or we might be out in Iowa City," Iowa senior safety Brett Greenwood said . "We don't pay attention to it. We don't listen to it. We don't feel satisfied because we hear it. We know that it takes a lot of work, a lot of preparation to win those games.

"If we take a second to feel like we've arrived or whatever, we're going to get beat in those games."