CHAPEL HILL – Antoine Green doesn’t live in a world of what-could-have-been. He could but chooses not to.

Instead, Green operates with the mindset of what-can-be.

To better understand Green’s thought process, one must go back to Oct. 20, 2018. The site was the Carrier Dome, and the scene was North Carolina’s overtime loss at Syracuse.

With the Tar Heels leading the Orange, 21-20, late in the third quarter, quarterback Nathan Elliott attempted a pass down the left sideline to Green but it fell incomplete. Green got tangled up with a Syracuse defensive back on the play but came up fine and remained in the game for the following snap.

On the next play, which started at midfield, UNC running back Jordon Brown gained 16 yards running outside of the left tackle. Not far from where Brown cut up field was Green, who was looking for someone to block when Syracuse’s Kingsley Jonathan rolled onto the back of Green’s right leg, breaking his fibula.

The process in getting back to normal football activity, which means fully trusting the leg while having nowhere in one’s mind it could happen again at any time, is not as easy as some may think. Green said it took a long time before he felt like himself.

Two-and-a-half years later, Green is still asked about the gruesome injury and his journey back to full health. That experience and all that followed now shapes who he is as a football player and in some respects as a person. With that in the rearview mirror, Green just wants to get better every day and help the Tar Heels win games.

“I’d say the main challenge was bouncing back after my freshman year coming off of that leg injury,” he said, when asked about his long, hard road back. “I’ve just been focusing on being consistent and just doing my part.”

Green did play last season. He played in 2019, too. But there were times when he did not exactly look like the player who had surged past a few older teammates during the 2018 campaign when he was a true freshman.

He caught four passes for 45 yards playing 59 snaps before the injury, but in 2019, Green was on the field for 268 snaps catching eight passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns. Last fall, Green saw action in 11 games playing 134 snaps. He hauled in four passes for 38 yards and a score.

With Dyami Brown opting out of the Orange Bowl, Green got the start and even caught a pass. So, this past spring, the Rockledge, FL, native worked mostly with the ones.

“I’ve been mainly on the right side and I’ve been running with the blues (first team), and right now I have Stephen Gosnell behind me, and we’re just rotating,” he said.

Serving in a starting role in the spring is nice, but it does not guarantee anything for the fall, especially when Beau Corrales and Khafre Brown will be healthy and likely to move into the first unit. So, Green continues to work on his craft daily.

“I’d say just working on getting in and out of brakes and being consistent when the ball is coming my way,” he said.

That hard work is paying off, however, and Green’s teammates are noticing.

One thing the media does during the spring and fall camp is ask players questions about which teammates are standing out, and a few times Green’s name came up without specific prompting. And when it’s an opposing defensive back who speaks up, that carries more credibility.

Kyler McMichael started nine games at cornerback last season for the Tar Heels and worked with the ones all spring, so his take on Green carries tremendous weight. So how did McMichael reply when asked toward the end of spring which receiver was giving him fits?

“Antoine Green, I gotta give it to him,” McMichael said. “He’s always working me, giving me good looks off the line.”

Green is far removed from that painful moment in the Carrier Dome. He may not even like talking about it anymore. But it is part of his past and football story, and if his game erupts this fall, it will be recounted by television broadcasters and sportswriters alike.

And that is okay. He has battled back from something few people experience and has done so wearing a big smile and a healthy disposition.