Green receives four-game ban; UGA plans appeal
(Updated 8:40 p.m.)
ATHENS – The NCAA came down hard Wednesday on A.J. Green, ordering Georgia’s star wide receiver to sit out four games as punishment for selling a game jersey to a sports agent.
Green sold the jersey he wore in last season’s Independence Bowl for $1,000, according to the facts of the case stipulated by Georgia.
The school plans to appeal the NCAA ruling in hopes of having the length of the suspension reduced. The appeal could be heard next week, coach Mark Richt said.
Green was held out of last week’s season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette, pending the results of the NCAA investigation, which began in July. He must sit out the Bulldogs’ next three games -– Saturday at South Carolina, Sept. 18 at home vs. Arkansas and Sept. 25 at Mississippi State –- unless the appeal is successful. He will be eligible to return for the Oct. 2 game at Colorado.
“Certainly I’m disappointed with the outcome,” Richt said. “However, we have games to play, and that’s where our focus needs to be in the coming days and weeks. Other players will have to step forward, and I’m confident they will do that.”
Richt informed his players of the NCAA ruling shortly before Wednesday’s practice.
“He assured us we have the talent on this team to play with or without [Green],” tight end Aron White said. “We’re still Georgia. One player doesn’t make Georgia. That’s something [Richt] made very clear to us, that he still has complete confidence in us.”
The NCAA did not name the individual who bought the jersey from Green but said the person meets the organization’s definition of an agent -– “any individual who markets or promotes a student-athlete.” That put Green in violation of the NCAA rule against receiving benefits from agents.
Selling a jersey to a non-agent also would violate NCAA rules, which prohibit student-athletes from receiving money for memorabilia.
Green has donated $1,000, the amount he received for the jersey, to charity, the NCAA said.
The four-game ban is at the top end of the range the NCAA typically imposes for this type of violation.
The NCAA said it reviews each case “on its own merits based on the specific facts. Staff decisions are made based on a number of factors including . . . the student-athlete’s responsibility for the violation, as well as any mitigating factors presented by the university.”
In another recent case, the NCAA last week suspended Alabama defensive end Marcell Dareus for two games for accepting almost $1,800 in benefits from an agent. In that case, the NCAA said Dareus received a two-game ban, rather than four games, “based on mitigating circumstances.”
Green will be allowed to practice with the Georgia team during his banishment from games and, in fact, did so Wednesday.
”I want to apologize to my coaches, teammates and the Georgia fans for the mistake in judgment,” Green said in a statement. “I very much regret all that has taken place and the distraction that’s been caused. I’ve learned a valuable lesson and hope others can learn from my mistake. I can only focus my attention now on practicing and looking ahead to getting back with my teammates as quickly as possible.”
Green did not meet with reporters. Richt summed up Green’s reaction: “He’s hurt. He’s sad. He’s sorry for what happened.”
Wide receiver Tavarres King said the Green news was “pretty shocking” to him and vowed to help pick up the slack in the star player’s absence.
“I got to step up and make plays to fill the void for A.J.” King said. “Big shoes to fill. Huge shoes to fill.”
Green, a junior from Summerville, S.C., was named to preseason All-SEC and some preseason All-America teams. He is projected as a high first-round pick if he enters next year’s NFL draft, as most observers expect him to do.
Green caught 53 passes for 808 yards and six touchdowns last season, when he missed three-plus games with injuries. He caught 56 passes for 963 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman in 2008.
Georgia’s appeal will be heard by the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement, which is comprised of representatives from NCAA member schools. Green cannot play in games during the appeal process.
As is standard procedural form in such cases, Georgia declared Green ineligible and the NCAA set his penalty and the terms of his reinstatement.
The NCAA informed Georgia on July 21 of the Green investigation — one in a series of probes at a number of schools into dealings between athletes and agents. Green said on July 22 that he was asked by Georgia officials if he attended an agent-hosted party in Miami that triggered investigations at several schools. He said he did not.
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1,225 comments Add your comment
DJ
September 8th, 2010
5:50 pm
The NCAA is the real criminal here. Making tons of money off student athletes and doing their best to make sure those athletes dont see a dime of it
PMC
September 8th, 2010
5:50 pm
If he lied, which I doubt, it would be a lot more than 4 games. See Dez Bryant.
LawDawg
September 8th, 2010
5:50 pm
Bramble Off!!!,
Have you ever noticed that your little rings you had made when you finally beat UGA aren’t worth the Nerd degree you have? NO ONE WANTS THEM!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Get Clued
September 8th, 2010
5:50 pm
its NOT excessive…. AJ lied. YOU DONT LIE TO THE NCAA !
JacketFan
September 8th, 2010
5:50 pm
RAMBLE – Excellent point. Of course, this one gets extra points because we’re only in Week 2
bugkiller
September 8th, 2010
5:50 pm
bubbadog that where this rule came from
DD
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
Its time the NCAA start paying these players something – $1000 a month – what would it hurt?
Tim
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
3 years ago bama had 5 players suspended for 4 games for GIVING text books to other students! AJ gets $1000 from an agent and everyone here is mad?
What Is This?
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
5150 P.O.A.D. : But coach Mama needed a New pair-o-kicks. Iz had to sell it. Daddy can’t get no jobz. Obama’s shovels ain’t ready to work for a Black man. Only Hispanics get dim jobz. Please coach don’t takz me of scholarship my hood ain’t gotz the Benjamins to get me through schoolz.
Sid
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
the rules are the rules……there should be some kind of minimum IQ requirement to play college sports.
Damon Evans
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
Hey AJ, thanks for the jersey
No, seriously, Yellow Fuzzy, I will personally kick your ass. Just give me an address.
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
You know what, Techies, I’m feeling generous — I’ll go ahead and extend my offer to rest of you worthless wastes of oxygen — ass-kickings for the first 10 of you to provide an address. Or, you can just wait till November, when your team will receive a first-rate beatdown at the hands of UGA, with or without Green.
Dawgmess
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
Approaching 500 comments here and 98% of you just don’t get it. AJ took $1,000 from an agent — plain and simple! He sold a nearly worthless jersey for a grand to an agent’s representative and put the money in his pocket. We’re lucky he’s only getting a 4 game suspension.
JacketFan
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
LawDawg – You’re right. They’re not worth nearly what your players got for their SEC Champ rings. Thanks for reminding me.
Dawg Dude
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
@ RAMBLE ON!!! and Jacket Fan:
Are yall really gonna talk about meltdowns after last years season end for your pathetic program?
Larry
September 8th, 2010
5:51 pm
Richt is losing control. He should redshirt AJ for being plain stupid and he should have redshirted Ogletree, which I believe would get everyone’s attention.
SavDawg
September 8th, 2010
5:52 pm
Let’s see. “Bama’s Guy ” Marcel Dareus goes to an agents party, accepts airfare and almost $2000 worth of benefits, gets 2 game suspension. Where in the hell is the consistency in this ? The NCAA is defintely showing some favoritism here, or just their usual Gestapo attitude. Time for big time college football to break away from them.
BIG TECH FAN
September 8th, 2010
5:52 pm
This is why I don’t attend any damn college games or buy any damn merchandise! There should be a governmental intervention on how the NCAA are using these “student”, “amateur” athletes. If any of my children, relatives and friends children are as gifted as the athletes that play in college, I will make and tell them to go play pro overseas!
1stand10
September 8th, 2010
5:52 pm
AJ stated he sold the jersey to a memorabilia collectior. UGA administration investigated the memorabilia collector and found no evidence that he was an agent.
The NCAA found differently.
That’s why Dean said 1 game. That’s why Mike Adams thought it was no big deal.
Everyone at UGA thought this was a pretty clear case of having received an improper benefit from a memorabilia collector.
You can bet that UGA feels very strongly that the NCAA is making connections that don’t exist – at least not in this context – or they absolutely would not be appealing.
Paul
September 8th, 2010
5:52 pm
It’s collegiate athletics. He should be honored to get a full-ride to UGA. Greene didn’t play by the rules mandated by the NCAA.
Plenty of students paying their way at UGA would love to have a scholarship like Greene has.
JacketFan
September 8th, 2010
5:52 pm
“You know what, Techies, I’m feeling generous — I’ll go ahead and extend my offer to rest of you worthless wastes of oxygen — ass-kickings for the first 10 of you to provide an address. Or, you can just wait till November, when your team will receive a first-rate beatdown at the hands of UGA, with or without Green.”
Uh-oh, fellas. We got us an internet bada$$. Watch out!
buckeye
September 8th, 2010
5:53 pm
just too damn funny
Another dumb average THUGA player
September 8th, 2010
5:53 pm
Why didn’t you let your unemployed pappy sell the jersey AJ????
StraightJacket
September 8th, 2010
5:53 pm
The news is actually worse for Ugag:
1. Despite winning the 2010 Fulmer Cup, A.J. Green was NOT actually “arrested”, so his points do NOT count toward the 2011 Fulmer Cup.
2. Even a successful appeal to have Green awarded Fulmer Cup points for this would be denied as we are “in season”. Fulmer Cup points are only awarded for “off season” events. NOTE: While the violation may have technically occurred AFTER bowl season, the prevailing judgement says that with the sentencing coming AFTER the season started, points would still NOT be awarded.
Georgia should implement a strategy of “greyshirting” these never-ending violations, so that they can DOMINATE the 2011 Fulmer Cup!
UGag, NUMBER 1! … in Recrutin’ … in pre-season rankings, … and in …. FULMER CUP!
Jimmy
September 8th, 2010
5:53 pm
Title should read “AJ gets $1000 from Agent” the shirt thing is a lame excuse.
SC Boy
September 8th, 2010
5:54 pm
What is it with UGA players. Rings, jerseys, tutors, jail time, basketball 101. Man, talk about out of control. Who’s running the asylum, the inmates?
Jim
September 8th, 2010
5:54 pm
GT & UF making fun of the Dawgs and the AJ situation is classic. Maybe they should be more concerned with their own team’s obvious inconsistencies that were exposed during week 1. I would be more concerned with that than with a competitor losing only 1 of their MANY talented and skilled players. Seems as though we played just fine on Sat without AJ. What can UF and GT say about having all of their key players & still looking like JV players out there?
bob
September 8th, 2010
5:54 pm
Breaking News!!! UGA library caught fire today, Ted Peterson the Athens fire chief said the heat was unbearable and everything was a total loss, Ted went on to say that it was a darn shame because there was five stacks of coloring books that had not even been colored in.
2010 APSE RELEASE NOT FOR RE PUBLICATION
NORRIS
September 8th, 2010
5:54 pm
all these people that keep saying rules are rules are idiotts.
When the punishment dont fit the crime there is a problem.
CANINE NONSENSE
September 8th, 2010
5:55 pm
@ LAME BRAIN,I MEAN NAME, HE WAS BUSTED FOR BEING A LIAR!!! WHAT PART OF THAT DON’T YOU AND THE REST OF THE LEGHUMPER NATION NOT UNDERSTAND??!!!
dawg stuck in SC
September 8th, 2010
5:55 pm
BuzzKill, you have a degree in EE and you don’t even make 100K? Did you attend GT? I hate to tell you this, but I never went to college and I pay 4 times more in taxes than you make. I know you are curious. I manufacture wooden pallets. Do all the engineering myself.
Jimmy
September 8th, 2010
5:55 pm
Well, the NCAA Gustapo has spoken. The team should use this as motivation and pull together to make this a really special year.
Why don’t these “student” athletes get together and file a class action law suit against the NCAA? Didn’t one guy who use to play at Arizona State sue a few years ago for the NCAA using his ‘likeness’ on a college football Playstation game??
I don’t know the ‘legalese’ on this, but it seems like a no brainer to me. If AJ has his name on a jersey, he should be able to proffit off of it, just as if his ‘likeness’ were on a video game.
What am I missing??
CryDawgs
September 8th, 2010
5:55 pm
WAH WAH WAH!!! Do UGA fans ever get tired of crying about everything? Apparently not! Why don’t you face the truth…UGA is NOT one of the top teams in the country.
WoodChuck
September 8th, 2010
5:55 pm
I guess he will be playing on Sunday, eh?
colorado bulldog
September 8th, 2010
5:55 pm
Paul, I’m confused. Which GreenE are you talking about? David Greene… Alvin Greene… Nathanael Greene?
Get Clued
September 8th, 2010
5:56 pm
Why do you morons think Richt and AJ couldnt comment. Damage control. AJ’s stament today was Damage control. This guy did a big NO NO.
trey
September 8th, 2010
5:56 pm
It’s excessive and I feel sure it’ll be reduced after the appeals. But even if it’s not, it’s not the end of the world for the team. If you guys think his absence means UGA loses to SC then you need to do some serious study of this team. This is a VERY GOOD team this year. There is a stable of good WRs and backs, two excellent QBs, and an outstanding defense.
Truth be told, it’s probably a blessing for UGA with respect to the SC game. They would have a game plan in place to shut down AJ, and Bobo would’ve had a game plan to over-use AJ. In the end there probably would’ve been a lot of 1-2-3-punt on our offense. Now it opens things up more and allows the other WR’s to play and puts more pressure on SC defense to cover them.
Relax guys. Dawgs beat SC by 10 to 14points.
No, seriously, Yellow Fuzzy, I will personally kick your ass. Just give me an address.
September 8th, 2010
5:56 pm
JacketFan, we can find out real quick if I’m an Internet “bada$$” (really, the dollar signs were just so darn cute) or a real life badass. Just say the magic words.
JacketFan
September 8th, 2010
5:56 pm
DawgDude – We lost. It was last season. New year, clean slate.
But, win our lose, we have an integrity in our team that you will never know with Mark Richt. You lead the most recent series 8-1. You also lead the way in arrests, 9-0. Oh, how’s the Fulmer Cup look in your trophy case?
BIG TECH FAN
September 8th, 2010
5:56 pm
But on the other hand!!! LOOOOOOOL!!!!!! I love my Jackets!!!!!! Geeezzz, a pathetic dawg jersey is only worth a few cents!!! The NCAA went waaaaaay overboard on the suspension!!!! He didn’t try to sell BCS trophy did he?! No way, Georgia hasn’t been near that trophy ever!!! and I mean EVEEEERRR!!!! LOL!!!!
DP
September 8th, 2010
5:56 pm
I went to the NCAA website to read their statements on Green and Dareus. The statement on Dareus specifically says his suspension was reduced from 4 to 2 games due to mitigating circumstances. The statement on Green mentions that suspensions can be reduced if there are mitigating circumstances but doesn’t say there were any in Green’s case.
I suspect that mitigating circumstances in the Dareus case are one or more of the following:
1. He didn’t intend to have contact with an agent or have a trip paid for by an agent but was lured in under false pretenses by Marvin Austin of UNC, who Dareus knew from a recruiting trip to UNC.
2. When he realized an agent was the host of a party he attended he told the Alabama coaches and Alabama notified the NCAA.
3. Dareus’ mother was seriously ill and then died during the time of his trips to Miami, which could have affected his judgment.
If Green was in direct contact with an agent on the sale of his jersey, didn’t tell UGA or the NCAA and the NCAA found out via a tip and then contacted Georgia, the mitigating circumstances that appear to be present with the Dareus case aren’t there for Green.
I would guess Georgia will attempt to make the case that there are mitigating circumstances in its appeal. Nick Saban initially said Alabama would appeal the 2 game suspension on Dareus but after looking into the precedents they decided the penalty was consistent with similar situations and didn’t appeal.
At the Spurrier home...
September 8th, 2010
5:56 pm
Mrs. Spurier:
“Steve, dinners ready. Whatcha doing on Ebay?”
Steve Spurrier:
“Just buying a jersey. Lets eat.”
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 8th, 2010
5:57 pm
AJ should have sold some red panties. They are in huge demand this fall.
Dawgs Tell
September 8th, 2010
5:57 pm
I love the DAWGS and this stuff is hurting the team,university and me.However, I have stated several times before that other players are being looked at for off the field problems. A.J. tried to cover up the problem in June when another source(team in the SEC) told the NCAA about selling of jersey. A.J. was interviewed and dragged feet on response to investigators.That’s the reason for four games.Very dumb mistake since these rules are gone over with players EVERY YEAR. Overall policy and punishment are currently being revised by A.D. staff.One person will be made the AX man who sets punishment.It will by pass Richt.
bdawge71
September 8th, 2010
5:57 pm
dear buzz kill, you are a complete certfied moron. please stay on the tech side of the field and please graduate from elementary school before you have any further comments. NOW AT THAT MATTERS IS 30-24 AND 9 OF 10. 10-4.
Alphare
September 8th, 2010
5:57 pm
How come Dez Bryant was suspended for the rest of the season, while AJGreen is only suspended 4 games? It seems to me they both lied to NCAA and got caught.
Too late for Dez Bryant to appeal though.
OBAMA
September 8th, 2010
5:57 pm
Man,I really think Oklahoma will lose to the Noles
Jorge
September 8th, 2010
5:57 pm
jim, surely you can state something more insightful than the lame post about GT/UF. Typical dog fan.
AJ Green
September 8th, 2010
5:57 pm
Yes, I am THAT stupid.
The HANG 'EM JUDGE
September 8th, 2010
5:58 pm
HE LIED……HE LIED……HE LIED…..HE LIED……..Get it?
He was INTERROGATED, and like any good Dawg does, HE LIED……..
So THAT’S what Richt’s been up to. He’s been recruiting 4 and 5 star athletes….But the “stars” represent crimes/personality flaws/rap sheets!!!!