HARRISONBURG — James Madison senior safety Raven Greene is now a redshirt junior.

Coach Mike Houston announced Tuesday that Greene was granted a medical-hardship waiver for an injury that kept him sidelined throughout most of his sophomore season. Greene now has an extra year of eligibility and will be able to play as a redshirt senior in 2017.

“Talking to Raven a few months ago, and we were new and didn’t realize some of his history,” Houston said. “But we found out that he had played only a few games during his sophomore year. We started pursuing and trying to get a medical-hardship waiver for him to get a year of eligibility back, and we found out about two weeks ago that it had been approved by the NCAA and CAA.

“We thought this week was an appropriate week to announce it.”

JMU will honor its senior class Saturday in a ceremony before the regular-season finale against Elon at 1:30 p.m. at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Houston said the program initially asked the NCAA for the waiver about a month and a half ago.

“Raven is really excited about it, and I promise you that [defensive coordinator] Bob Trott is the most excited about it,” Houston said.

This season, Greene has 45 tackles and a team-leading five interceptions. The five interceptions rank second most in the Colonial Athletic Association and tied for ninth-most nationally. The 6-foot, 200-pounder returned one of his five interceptions for a touchdown on Oct. 29 against Rhode Island.

“Not only is Raven a great player on the field, he’s a character young man and great leader in our locker room,” Houston added. “He’s an outstanding young man and student, so he’s a great model for younger players. He’ll be significant on and off the field moving forward next year.”