I still have some Hahira beachfront property that I can give you a swell deal on.
Last Friday Chris Hawkins, who purchased A.J. Green’s jersey, leading to the receiver’s four-game suspension, said he never spoke to the NCAA about the case. Hawkins, who paid $1,000 for the jersey, said the NCAA “never really came to me.”Stacey Osburn, the NCAA’s associate director for public and media relations, responded Monday.
“Actually, the NCAA contacted Chris Hawkins on several occasions to discuss the matter; however, he was not responsive or cooperative,” Osburn said in an e-mail. “He did not return the four different phone calls attempting to gather information. He also canceled a conference call with the NCAA and a member institution, and failed to join the conference call when it was rescheduled.”
Imagine that.
That jersey looks killer on the wall, though, I must admit.
Get The Picture 
If you believe he’s a memorabilia collector, you probably also believe we’ll end up assembling a “Dream Team”
Crowell amazed at UA:
http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/barrier_noentry.asp?ReturnTo=&sid=&script=content.asp&cid=1125294&fid=&tid=&mid=&rid=
And the sad thing is, I don’t blame him.
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Oh no! We might possibly, maybe, miss out on a top in-state recruit! Never mind that these sorts of reports come out all the time on recruiting sites… our class and program are clearly doomed!
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The more I read about the AJ deal, the more I believe he will be out for the full 4 games. Not stacking up well for CMR right now.
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Richt sucks! Hire Gruden! He gives me tingly in my pants!
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Gross, on both of those thoughts.
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Why would Chris Hawkins have to talk to the NCAA? Is he a current athlete at a NCAA institution? Does the NCAA have subpoena power over him? Is it his responsibility to return calls to NCAA personnel? A.J. Green is caught in a web of bizaare rules created by a rogue organization where he is presumed guilty and is required to prove his innocence without resources to enable him to do so. The entity that accused him did not even do a real investigation because they have no authority out in the real world. If they don’t know (and it is obvious the NCAA doesn’t really know) how can the NCAA say that Hawkins is an “agent” and use that as a basis for a harsher penalty? They could say my mother is an agent and get away with it if my mother told them GFY (which is exactly what she would do) and refused to cooperate. Shame on the NCAA, a worthless, useless waste of space that actually does harm, not good, for athletes. They punish the trivial but do nothing about the serious.
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I think the fact that it was an agent only made it worse, but either way AJ knew he wasn’t allowed to make money off his athletic status. We can argue that the penalty is too stiff but they could have made him ineligible for the whole year.
Now, I don’t like the NCAA rule in this case. But there’s a way to challenge rules you disagree with; breaking the rule first and and then avoiding talking to the people whose rule you broke, like Hawkins is doing, is not how I would go about it.
Hawkins’ interest isn’t memorabilia…..he’s a go-between who hooks up college players and agents (because the system is ripe for this). He led by befriending AJ Green and gaining his trust, but he wasn’t going to stop there and in a way AJ might be better off now by knowing what this guy is about. Ditto for college football in general.
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Is Hawkins a”runner” for some scumbag agent? Maybe, but I haven’t seen any evidence that shows that he is or, more importantly, that A.J. Green knew that he was. I am more and more sure that what happened is that Green was questioned about something he was totally innocent of and the NCAA scum used that as a pretext to engage in a fishing expedition. A.J.Green gave a truthful answer to a question and it was used against him. Gestapo tactics. If I am a coach now I do not let my players talk to NCAA investigators. Let them try to suspend one of my players with no evidence. The NCAA investigators have no immunity like cops do. The those guys individually will be named as defendants along with the NCAA in the lawsuit filed if the NCAA suspends the player.
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The NCAA had become aware of Chris Hawkins when they started investigating the North Carolina program after the Miami Beach agent party. Once they were onto Hawkins, they just had to see who he was in contact with. They found his Facebook communication with AJ…that’s what I’ve gathered.
The irony is that I’m sure this happens a lot more and doesn’t get caught because it isn’t part of another big investigation.
And if they could catch everybody, who would be left to play….
Moral of the story – what we call “common sense” is not common. I’m as disgusted as anybody.
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I don’t see how AJ can be held responsible for someone who the NCAA has no control over not cooperating. The questions the NCAA should be asking are, what did AJ know about this guy and second did AJ cooperate. AJ broke the rules and people can say well they could have suspended him more or whatever but the fact is compared to what AJ did (stupid but no advantage gained) his punishment is harsh especially when you consider what Dareus at Alabama got for what at least on the surface seems to have been a more severe violation. The message the NCAA is sending is that if you want some extra benefits it is better to go on an expensive trip paid for by agents than it is to sell some of your stuff.
As a side note, I don’t know the exact rule on this but I thought that you couldn’t sell jerseys with players names on them. According to a woman I work with who sells stuff at Alabama games all the vendors outside the stadium sell jerseys with the players names on them. If that is true they are not even trying to hide the hypocracy anymore by saying that “8” is a generic team jersey not associated with a player.
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If you think AJ didn’t know what this guy was about, then I’ve got a lot next door to the Senator’s with an even sweeter view, for half the price.
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is there a photo of mr. hawkins we might use to post his face all over the innertubes, hopefully to his chagrin?
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Here ya go. Guess this is accurate.
http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/hawkins_chris00.html
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What amazes me is, how could Chris Hawkins do this when he’s served in the arena?
Isn’t there some kind of bond amongst arena goers that would prevent such a thing?
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Personally I think AJ should just tell the NCAA, UGA and all the fans that are calling for him to be thrown of the team to kiss his butt. Go hire an agent and trainer and get ready to make more money than he can make by taking the BS from our fans. Believe me we need him more than he needs any of the coaching our staff can give him. The Pro’s only care that he can catch the damn ball and I believe that has been established. If he comes back at all I am going to be real happy.
So why don’t we just leave the kid alone.
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69dawg, you are right anyone calling for him to be punished anymore than he already has been is going way overboard. He is a college student who had a lapse in judgement. It would be hard in college (or years after college) to turn down that kinda money for what amounts to a shirt. I am sure no one that is angry with him has ever made a mistake. I am not happy he did it but at the same time I am not going to crucify the kid over it. Can’t wait to have you back AJ.
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