FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Even now, two very good years later, Shonn Greene remembers what it was like to work in the warehouse at a furniture store nearly 1,000 miles from home for $8 an hour. It was not exactly hard work, but it was not a lot of fun, either.

     Greene, a rookie running back for the Jets, had let his grades slip, and he was academically ineligible for the 2007 season at the University of Iowa. As he attended classes at nearby Kirkwood Community College, he needed money, so he picked up a job at McGregors Furniture in Coralville, Iowa.

     “It was a very humbling experience,” Greene said this week.

     Greene felt as if he had been stripped of his career. He had been a star at Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J., before spending a year at Milford Academy in Connecticut to prepare for college. After he did poorly in class at Iowa, Greene knew he was wasting his potential.

     Greene rejoined the Hawkeyes in 2008 and had a superb junior season, rushing for 1,850 yards and 20 touchdowns. He entered the N.F.L. draft a year early, and the Jets, who thought Greene could have been a first-round draft choice, traded up 11 spots to grab him after he slipped to the third round.

     “I was going in as a rookie, so you’ve got to be humble and wait your turn,” Greene said.