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
SEC fan
September 8th, 2010
10:28 pm
Does the penalty fit the crime? Darius gets 2 game suspension for a $2k agent compensated party trip to Miami. Green sells his own jersey for $1k and gets a 4 game suspension and gives procedds to charity. NCAA= not competent athletic administrator
Yellow Fuzz
September 8th, 2010
10:32 pm
I like guys. I peek at them when they come out of the shower here at the Tech dorm. So sleek shiny when they’re all wet. I can’t take my eyes off of the guys. I wish they could speak English so I could try to get them to come to my room.
bad apple dawg
September 8th, 2010
10:32 pm
Im tired of UGA recruiting the ear bling wearing rogues. Nothing but prima donnas who wants the limelight all to themselves. Green cost the dawgs the LSU game last year because of his look at me penalty. He aint no team player and should be dismissed from the team.
rednblackblood
September 8th, 2010
10:36 pm
So you can fail a drug test(Jarvis Moss the week of SC game and b suspended following week..saved the game w/blocked fg) or be arrested 3 times, transfer, and be reinstated(Mosolli) or go to a agent sponsored party and get less punishment than selling a jersey on ebay? Wtf??? Dumbass move by Aj for sure but c’mon NCAassAnined!
Yellow Fuzz
September 8th, 2010
10:36 pm
I hate UGA but love dudes. I’m fat, 5′4″, wear glasses, have a very short winkie, extreme acne and a hair lip. But hey….I just love GT!!!!
Pitbull
September 8th, 2010
10:37 pm
Green should have come forward from the beginning and admitted the hole thing. That’s why he got a 4 game suspension. He ain’t no rocket scientist.
Pitbull
September 8th, 2010
10:39 pm
What are you doing with those red panties in your lap. These, I bought them for YOU, officer!
crabapplejoe
September 8th, 2010
10:42 pm
@badappledog who wrote: “Im tired of UGA recruiting the ear bling wearing rogues. Nothing but prima donnas who wants the limelight all to themselves. Green cost the dawgs the LSU game last year because of his look at me penalty. He aint no team player and should be dismissed from the team.”
Nice post bad apple…..this is a team sport…the fans get so hyped up on “five star” prima donnas who don’t produce and bring the program down…..look at what Boise State did the other night, as a team, without the “five stars” wearing 2 carat earrings…..CMR needs to get with clue….but the “fans” drive him to making these bad decisions. You would think that Green is the second coming….yet he’s never gone over 1000 yards receiving…its a joke….I called Green “overrated” tonight and some Georgia “fan” acted like I had said Jesus is not the son of God….its really laughable for a receiver who has done relatively little in his career.
u of a champions
September 8th, 2010
10:43 pm
How soon you forget. Alabama linebacker, Jerel Harris received a six game suspension last year, because he was not forthcoming about a laptop he received from an auburn grad. So don’t blame your troubles on UA. AJ must have tried to hide it.
Smiling Jack
September 8th, 2010
10:47 pm
Ditto That and Buzzkill reveal the dick heads they are! Go Dawgs! They will beat SC and Arkansas without AJ. Too bad for AJ, but he made the sale, now he pays the price. Dawgs will move on through the season with a winning attitude. What’s so great is to see the maturity of the majority of the team in contrast to the immature rants for “so call” fans. Go Dawgs!
Truthteller
September 8th, 2010
10:53 pm
So, The University of Georgia can sell Green’s jersey, but Green can not. There is something wrong here.
Gen Neyland
September 8th, 2010
11:06 pm
I wondered if AJ might have misled the investigation somehow to receive a 4 game layoff. You know, the NCAA wants the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…Sorry about this one, Dawgs…
GA BirdDawg
September 8th, 2010
11:08 pm
Typical Bullshiznit!!! Are you kidding me? He sells a shirt and gets 4 games and Alabama and UNC players blatently violate NCAA rules and they only get 2 games. How am I not surprised. This is typical BS!!
col fot
September 8th, 2010
11:08 pm
Boise St. would have beaten Virginia Tech be 25 on the blue turf. Nobody, but nobody wants to play Boise St. of fear of getting embarassed. You want see any of the other top ten teams doing a home and home series with Boise St….their scared of that Emerald field and for good reason. If they go undeafeated they should certainly play for the national title, and would probably win…Peterson is a great coach.
Tide Rising
September 8th, 2010
11:14 pm
So people think that Dareus got off with less for a bigger crime. Not quite.
Dareus did everything by the book once he found out that the party was hosted by an agent. He flew immediately back home, called Saban, met with him that day, and Alabama compliance was on the matter that day. Everything was done by the book as soon as we found out. We went to the NCAA about the matter. They did not have to come to us to find out what happened as with Green.
The NCAA also publicly noted that Dareus was “about the most truthful student athlete we’ve ever dealt with”. The NCAA’s words. Not mine.
And if you think the NCAA is easy on Bama then why did Bama linebacker Jerrell Harris get suspended 6 games last year for of all things accepting a laptop as a gift from an AUBURN grad of all things. Sheesh!
Every case is different and I can assure you that the NCAA does Bama no favors. That is especially true given the fact that the NCAA used every dirty trick in the book including using a rival coach as a “secret witness” and falsifying evidence as proven in court documents to hang Bama in the 2002-2005 probation.
BullThug
September 8th, 2010
11:14 pm
Why is poor little ole georgia fans always feel that they are the only ones dumped on. Let’s all cry a little and whine about how “unfair” the NCAA is. Instead, this shows, once again, that uga players are not the sharpest of tools in the tool box. AJ, and the rest of the players, had been told many times that he could not sell his crap. So – the fool that is going to be a multimillionaire in about 6 months from now – couldn’t hold off selling his crap?? It’s like those classless dawgs who sold their SEC championship rings several years ago. Smart, very smart.
Tide Rising
September 8th, 2010
11:15 pm
col fot,
You think we are scared of Boise when we weren’t scared of Texas or Florida? Surely you jest.
Tide Rising
September 8th, 2010
11:20 pm
Gen Neyland,
The truth may be the difference. Jerrell Harris got a 6 game suspension because an Auburn grad gave him a laptop. The laptop the NCAA didn’t have a problem with. It was the fact that Harris was not truthful about it that he got a 6 game suspension last year.
Dareus got a 2 game suspension because he was completely truthful to the NCAA in their own words.
AJ we don’t know about. I just know that if you are the least bit misleading or forthcoming as in volunteering information that they will hang your ass. And it well could have been that maybe AJ wasn’t completely forthcoming about the jersey. Who knows? But I’m sure they had a reason for a 4 game suspension. Somehow that logic seems to escape a lot of people on here.
macrotech
September 8th, 2010
11:27 pm
The ncaa has gone overboard with this decision! 4 games?! Once again, they’ve proven that they have no idea what they’re doing! They lack consistency and seem to have forgotten that they were put in place as an advocacy for the student athelete, NOT obstacles!!!
Paul in RDU
September 8th, 2010
11:28 pm
The comments on UNC players getting a 2 game suspension from the NCAA are silly. The players are being held out by the school – the NCAA has yet to rule on Austin or Little (the 2 players directly implicated in AgentGate). Doesn’t look to me as if the NCAA was dragging their feet on AJ while coming down easy on UNC – not to mention Weslye Saunders at SC who still hasn’t received a definitive answer from the NCAA
The HANG 'EM JUDGE
September 8th, 2010
11:28 pm
He broke the NCAA’s “UGA Ring Rule” by selling memorabilia, which caused the rule to be written in the first place several years ago. It seems like Richt would sit all the kids down on DAY ONE and say, “You don’t sell anything. Period. Any questions? Yes, Bubba?”
“Coach, can I sell my toofes if’n theys get knocked outta my head on the field?”
Bob
September 8th, 2010
11:32 pm
Whats amazing is that UT players can beat an off duty cop unconscious and get nothing but dont you dare make a dime off of our hard work or thats a suspendin’
Man why dont any of you so-called reporters ever mention how F-ed up the NCAA and its rules are?
REBE H
September 8th, 2010
11:36 pm
COACHES MAKE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OFF OF THESE KIDS AND A KID CANNOT MAKE 1,000.00? THAT IS A DISGRACE
The HANG 'EM JUDGE
September 8th, 2010
11:39 pm
NO, it’s not a disgrace. It’s the line that separates amateur athletes from professionals. Get it?
Tide Rising
September 8th, 2010
11:48 pm
Cry me a river with the whining and crying about these athletes getting abused by “the man”.
They get free tuition, room and board, free meals structured by expert nutritionists, and expert training in the way of a coaching staff and facilities to train them for a possible future of making millions.
If not for the university would any of these kids be able to afford the expert instruction offered by a Nick Saban or Mark Richt or the various position coaches or coordinators? Think they could just skip the school part and pay Saban a million or 2 a year to coach them out of their own pocket in the hopes that they may or may not make it? Uh, no. I don’t think so.
Not to mention they got all the hot booty on campus. Them and me that is.
Tide Rising
September 8th, 2010
11:51 pm
Bob,
That is far more amazing that 7-10 UT players can be witnessed by numerous bar patrons stomping 2 men into unconsciousness and only 1 of them gets in any trouble. I knew I couldn’t be the only person who thought that was nothing short of amazing.
AltamahaDawg
September 8th, 2010
11:51 pm
That rule wasn’t written in 2002. It’s always been a rule. Otherwise how were they in trouble for it to begin with? All the NCAA did in the ring case was to issue a memo clarifying it.
AltamahaDawg
September 8th, 2010
11:56 pm
Tide rising was it the first trip to FL or the second trip that Dareus reported back to Bama that it probably wasn’t another football player paying for his plane tickets, hotel rooms, and boooze out of his own pocket?
AltamahaDawg
September 8th, 2010
11:58 pm
Didnt mean that to slam Dareus
as it sounded. Don’t really think he tried to do anything wrong. Just the absudity ofthe whole situation.
ben
September 9th, 2010
12:01 am
why would anyone cooperate with the NCAA. Green did and hit with a max penalty. If I were an athlete I would keep my mouth shut and tell them nothing, graduate and be untouchable like reggie bush. This way the school takes the hit and the player and the agent are free.
SEC Observer
September 9th, 2010
12:04 am
Where did AJ get $1000 to pay back what he made off selling the jersey? Surely he spent it once he got it
AltamahaDawg
September 9th, 2010
12:05 am
I agree with you too, that college players don’t have any value as a player except that its provided to them FROM the schools. They get plenty of return for agreeing to a scholarship. They don’t need to get paid. I agree with the NCAA having no tolerance for this kind of stuff. Where do you draw the line. I do think they go overboard trying to restrict the perception of “preferential” treatment though.
Tide Rising
September 9th, 2010
12:06 am
AltDawg,
It was the 2nd trip he reported. The first trip he had no idea that it was even worth reporting because it was early in the summer and all that happened on that trip is that he went to a party, find out it was an agent, and left and didn’t think anything of it. This was before the whole agent gate thing so probably no one thought much about it. He just had enough sense to leave asap.
The 2nd time he paid Marvin Austin cash for his ticket when his plane landed in Miami. And he got a receipt for it. Went to a party found out again that an agent was having it and left. He also didn’t use the hotel that Austin got for him. He stayed with relatives since he was from Miami. But this second time he called his family and had them pay for his return trip to Bama and met with Saban that afternoon to explain what happened And of course the compliance dept came in also. To tell you the truth we are all ticked that he got a 2 game suspension since he was forthcoming with the NCAA and since he reported it when it happened a 2nd time.
JRW7
September 9th, 2010
12:07 am
AJ, what were you thinking???? That was stupid!!!!!!
AltamahaDawg
September 9th, 2010
12:08 am
SEC, I wouldl feel pretty certain that when the NCAA makes you pay something back after a long investigation, and they issue a statement that its been done to thier satisfaction, they are comfortable with the source.
ATLien
September 9th, 2010
12:15 am
Did you anyone of you listen to 680 today??? Chuck Oliver got caught up trying to break the AJ Green story which makes him look like a fool. All day 680 was touting that Chuck Oliver “The King of College Football” had a so-called “source” in Athens close to the program that told him AJ Green is going to play this weekend against South Carolina after paying back the money he gained from selling his jersey. HA HA HA HA… It only ended up that he won’t return until after the first 3 games… These radio gasbags no nothing more than you or I. They read the internet like you and I. The only difference is that they are on the radio voicing their opinions rather than with your friends.
Chuck Oliver’s gaff is eerily similar to the way ESPN handled the “LeBacle”…
Anyone else agree?
Tide Rising
September 9th, 2010
12:16 am
Altdawg,
I think you are spot on about the NCAA going overboard on things.
Mark Ingram and Julio went on the infamous fishing trip last summer with the same Auburn grad who Julio had known for years and had a friendship relationship with. The man wasn’t even a football fan. He was a wheelchair bound man who had been going on charters at the marina for years and when Julio worked there the last few summers he would help the guy in and out of the boats and they had a little bit of a friendship from there since he was such a regular.
Anyway, for helping him in the boat and helping with his rigging and baiting and general mobility while on the boat the guy asked if he could pay for Julio and Mark since they were helping him. They said sure since there wasn’t anything fishy so to speak about it. Nobody thought anything about it and frankly I don’t see anything wrong with it since the guy was an Auburn man, had a son at AU, his whole family was AU fans but this guy just didn’t give a hoot about football. Oddly enough his business was called Eagle supply but that was cause I think his business was in the Auburn Opelika area.
This is the kind of overboard pun intended with the fishing trip that the ncaa went. And to top it off they made Julio disassociate with this old fart- a guy he had known and liked for several years and vice versa. That was the sad part about the whole thing.
joop
September 9th, 2010
12:16 am
Wow, 4 games is harsh. Appeal.
AltamahaDawg
September 9th, 2010
12:20 am
I’m not doubting he is 100% honest, but it sounds like he did have some liability there. Careless at the very least. Not knowing the NCAA was asking around does not make it something that nobody should have thought anything about. The NCAA looking into it was not what made it wrong. It was wrong is why they were looking into it. The fact that he tried to make sure to cover himself properly the second time tells you that he knew he had not the first time. If he had immediately reported it the first time, he would be playing Saturday.
Tide Rising
September 9th, 2010
12:22 am
ATLlien,
Take it easy on Chuck. I’ve met him a few times. Don’t know him real well but well enough to know he’s a nice enough guy. We used to date 2 girls that we were roommates and he would come over to their place or he would be out a few times with us. He never seemed like much of a gasbag or braggadocio to me. Just seemed like an average Joe.
Tide Rising
September 9th, 2010
12:26 am
Altdawg, ‘
That would probably be about right. He came completely clean the 2nd time cause he realized he didn’t come forward the first time when he should have. I guess he just thought leaving the party the first time would suffice without him bringing the ncaa into it and opening up a whole can of worms for all the guys that did stay at the party.
In any event in regards to the guy in Miami hosting those parties and the agent who bought the AJ jersey these guys need to be dealt with harshly. I even think I will call them pimps. Bottom line is they need to be cleaned out- they just cost these star players some serious playing time.
AltamahaDawg
September 9th, 2010
12:29 am
I remember that fishing trip story. Ranks right up there with the giving a kid a ride to his home town to deal with family crisis being a problem stories. I understand its a tough thing to police the big time world of college sports. I usually think the NCAA is right, or at least you can understand the can of worms they face if they don’t have very strict rules. I actually think they handled the AJ Green investigation pretty well. It would seem that they worked it out between him, the school, and the rule book before letting it out. Would have much easier to just strip all of these kids of thier eligibility and call it a day. I do think the appeal in our case will result in less games. Issue the standard max, and then make UGA give them a reason, for the record, to make it less. I think they just knew that In the Bama player case, they would have granted a 2 game reduction, so they saved the trouble.
Octavius Richtus
September 9th, 2010
12:29 am
Any fan of a team other than UGA that truly thinks that “their” players never do wrong is lying. So, nobody under the age of 21 on GTs,Bamas,Florida’s,Auburns,etc..have drank alchohol in the last 12 months? None of them driven on a suspended license? These are the majority of the types of incidents that UGA players are cited with. The difference is that the players from other programs either don’t get caught…or do get caught but local law enforcement let them off so as not to hurt the football team. Richt doesn’t need to be fired because his players do nothing more than other teams. What he needs to do is figure out why the local law enforcement in his town is hell bent on citing as many football players as possible for things that they warn,or turn the other cheek, fraternity and sorority kids for. Over 50% of UGAs roster today has been cited for one thing or another in the last 3 years. Hell, Richt suspended Clint Boling for a game for “wreckless driving” 2 years ago. You get cited for anything at UGA and you get suspended…no questions. You think that you could go down to the KA house and find 50% of that group that has been cited in the same time period? And that is what fraternitys are known for…a lot of drinking and partying. But it doesn’t earn the local Barney Fifes respect when they haul one of those boys down to the station. But a football player…now that’ll get you noticed. So they just like to hang out in ambush mode waiting for a football player to drive a scooter the wrong way down a one way street. At UGA…that gets you cited , suspended, and front page news. At Bama,Florida etc., that gets a cop a chance to talk shop about the upcoming opponent with a “playa” on the football team. He , in turn, gets to brag about how he talked to so and so and give all his buddies down at the station the inside scoop on the “big game” coming up. Kids do these minor things at all schools…but the Athens and UGA police have a different mindset than more “program friendly” towns. So, Richt, you need to find out why your local cops hate your team…and make that go away. Then, you can be seen as running a righteous program like Saban,Meyer, etc.
Golden Rules!
September 9th, 2010
12:34 am
LOL this is too damn good…two fans of a couple of the most corrupt programs arguing over who’s player violated the most NCAA rules. Fn Classic
AltamahaDawg
September 9th, 2010
12:36 am
I agree. The NFL, the SEC, the NCAA can do something about this too. (I called them prostitutes earlier). Rules are fine, no excuse from breaking them. When your kids break the rule, its thier fault, not the worlds. However…..if I have the opportunity to remove the bad elements in thier lives I do so, where I can. I certainly don’t say, oh that just test thier ability to follow the rules, so bring on the temptations.
ozzfest
September 9th, 2010
12:40 am
YOU CAN GO TO EBAY RIGHT NOW…AND BUY A GEORGIA JERSEY #8. THEN ASK YOURSELF….WHY WOULD ANYONE BE INTERESTED IN BUYING A “#8″ JERSEY IN PARTICULAR? ANSWER: #8 IS A PLAYER WELL-MARKETED BY UGA AND THE NCAA (SEE ATHLONS AND LINDEYS MAGAZINE COVERS.) UGA AND THE NCAA MAKE MONEY BY MARKETING SAID PLAYER….MORE THAN A MEASLY $1000.
AltamahaDawg
September 9th, 2010
12:40 am
Enter your comments here
Tide Rising
September 9th, 2010
12:41 am
Octavius,
Of course every kid at every one of these schools does all these stupid little things. I’ve been to Athens and obviously Tuscaloosa and one thing I’ve noticed is that Athens is a little more spread out. Bama seems to be a little more compact with the frats, sororitys, the campus and players dorm-everything all right there together. Not as much reason for a Bama player to be driving and especially driving drunk with a lot of the stuff close together so that’s a small part of the reason we’ve had less of the stupid stuff like the citations and driving on suspended licenses.
But I will say though that Saban does a little better job of discipline because players really fear his consequences. He regularly boots guys for attitude and misbehavior- basically just breaking team rules, kind of nipping it in the bud. If you fear being booted from school just for breaking a team rule than odds are you’re probably going to be that much more fearful of doing something that will get you arrested.
Not saying Richt is running a thug program or anything like that. Just saying that even after accounting for the really stupid stuff like public intox and driving without a license that there still seems to be too many problems and that he needs to tighten the reins some.
That’’s it. I’m out guys.
Mark
September 9th, 2010
12:57 am
Masoli Gets charged with robbery and gets cleared to play and AJ gets treated like a criminal for selling a “HIS” jersey.
DawgByte49
September 9th, 2010
12:59 am
What about all the UGA players who have been arrested for breaking the laws of our community and receiving only 1 or 2 game suspensions. CDAWG, I completely agree with you. However, there must have been something else to this story. It may have been much worse then what has officially been reported.