AJ Green Declares For NFL Draft

Surprising no one...

From the university their ownselves...

"While it was a difficult decision, it came down to the opportunity of pursuing a dream I've had since early childhood," said Green. "But Georgia is a great place and I'm so appreciative of the opportunity to be a Georgia Bulldog. I want to thank the coaches, my teammates and the fans who have supported me and helped me grow not only as a player but as a man."

Green also indicated he has only two semesters of school left to graduate and intends to work on that as well.

"A.J. has made an immeasurable impact on our team over the past three seasons and we wish him nothing but the best," said UGA head coach Mark Richt. "I've enjoyed the blessing of working with him and getting to know his family and we wish him all the success in professional football.

"Once a Bulldog always a Bulldog."

Here's a reminder of what he was to the UGA program... regardless of the QB...
((HT: FSN/youtube))

Clean, Old-Fashioned Meh...

So, what happens when a 5-6 team takes on a 6-5 team...???

One needs a win to become bowl eligible, the other is already bowl eligible and doesn't have their starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

Yep, we're talking Georgia and Georgia Tech. A game that's, traditionally, wacky regardless of records even if this year the two teams are headed to the Independence, Liberty, Fight Hunger, Military, Chick-Fil-A, or BBVA Compass bowls.

Translation: Shreveport, Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta, DC, San Francisco, or Birmingham- and you're done before New Year's Day.

Both of them...

And in the year that a team like Texas is not even bowl eligible, Georgia was on the verge of being the same for the first time in 14 years. And, rest assured, Mark Richt's leash would be very short for 2011- even shorter than it is now.

Aaron Murray will be a very good QB in the SEC- that's a given if his growth curve continues the way it has. Orson Charles, while identified as a tight end, is more a flanker that will be the security blanket all QB's have. But since they have the history from their time at Tampa-Plant, it's a natural assumption.

They'll need that once AJ Green checks out faster than the Hurricanes told Randy Shannon he was out the door after losing to South Florida in Miami over the weekend. The defense will need to grow with young guys like Abry Jones and Alec Ogletree just as quickly.

Paul Johnson is, admittedly, short-handed after Josh Nesbitt's injury a few weeks ago. Tevin Washington is the new guy under center and he's had to learn on the job. And the offense is a precision-first way to go about life. It takes a special athlete to work in a system that has proven itself to be very successful when done correctly.

Remember, what's the phrase...?

Practice doesn't make perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect, and that's what you need for that offense.
It has to be perfect for it to work.

So, what does the game come down to...??? Momentum, mistakes, and driving the other guy off the clock. Just like a game where everyone is 9-2 and trying for a bowl game that is a lot later in the bowl season.

Tech was down twice by 14- once in the first and once again in the fourth and came back both times. Tech ended up with 512 total yards of offense, Georgia had 425. Both teams had 95 yard scoring drives.

But Tech turned the ball over four times- three of them fumbles. Georgia also had four fumbles, but only lost two of them.

Mark Richt is now 9-1 in his first ten games against Tech- the most lopsided edge in a ten game stretch since 1947 to 1956.

Aaron Murray completed six of his first seven passes two for scores to a vastly-improved Kris Durham and the other to security blanket Orson Charles. He finished the first half going 11-of-14 for 220. Tech's Anthony Allen, on the other hand, finished with 166 yards rushing, mostly up the middle of the Georgia defense.

What did we say about youth on defense for UGA...?
And athletes on the edge for Tech's defense...?

But there were two signature moments late...

The first was when Tech came back to trail 35-34 in the fourth, but kicker Scott Blair missed his point-after in 78 tries as a Yellow Jacket.

The joke is an easy one there: Who does he think he is...? Kyle Brotzman...???

That made it 35-34 and, going unnoticed by a lot of people initially, gave Paul Johnson the idea to let Georgia's Washaun Ealey score unchallenged so Tech could get the ball back with a little over a minute to go. The Tech offense wouldn't have had the chance to come back from 8 down otherwise.

A lot of you will point to the incompleted pitch from Tevin Washington that Justin Houston ran home from 18 yards away toward the end of the third quarter, but two stops by the Tech defense and the UGA offense reinforced the comeback in the fourth.

Georgia's season collapsed when AJ Green sold his jersey and they couldn't beat a horrific Colorado team in Boulder.

Which one of the teams fired its coach this season...???

Tech lost its axle when Nesbitt was lost...

And that's what the margins of error are these days in Division One- big boy college football. If one thing goes wrong at a skill position, mediocrity awaits...

Again...

But, Georgia fans, there is hope. Carver-Columbus running back Isaiah Crowell was there in his UGA hat and matching pullover.

No word on if he hugged Mark Richt after this win, though...

Nebraska Football Jersey Sale! High Bid Accepted

On the heels of the A.J. Green jersey sale controversy at the University of Georgia, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are auctioning game worn Husker jerseys from the upcoming Texas game. The game against the Longhorns in Lincoln is being billed as the "Nebraska Red Out Around the World."

FOSG Tony Barnhart said in his AJC.com column that Nebraska will take off the last names off the jersey's before being sold to the public.

With that knowledge the top bid for quarterback Taylor Martinez's #3 red Nebraska jersey currently stands at $999.99. That's too rich for my blood. Will Martinez get a cut of the jersey sale, I think not.

Those of us at the OSG HQ noticed more than half of the jerseys being auctioned have no bids attached. If they are giving them away send a few our way.

TWTW: Richt Saves Hawkins Job, Buffs Beat UGA

((HT: KDVR-TV/Fox31 Denver, Athletix Nation))

The HQ will readily admit that the Georgia Bulldogs should never schedule a game west of the Mississippi River ((see Arizona State, etc.))

This time, everyone and their mother going was thinking that Colorado was SO bad that Georgia was going to have no problems at all and it would be another step in the evidence in the "Fire Dan Hawkins" case put before the court of Colorado Public Opinion.

Well, so much for that idea...

It was nice for Aaron Murray to have AJ Green back ((as you'll see below)), but the defense let the Buffs back in the game. And we're still unsure as to whether or not Caleb King was trying to flea his flick with Murray late to cause the fumble that turned it once and for all...

We can tell you that Mike Bobo isn't long for this world, and that Greg McGarity may have Mark Richt follow in Bobo's footsteps...

Here's your highlights...


And just so you know... Georgia fans have beaten New Mexico fans to it...
Richtsgottago.com is up and running...

Who is Chris Hawkins? The guy who is causing AJ Green and UNC problems.

Chris Hawkins/Courtesy: tarheelblue.cstv.com

Well, we now have an answer to the question of "Who is the person that instigated the NCAA investigations of North Carolina and AJ Green?". That guy is a former UNC football player by the name of Chris Hawkins.

Hawkins, it appears, was the not-named possible agent listed in the NCAA decision to suspend Georgia wide receiver AJ Green. He also is apparently one of the, if not the center point of the NCAA investigation at North Carolina.

Read more from the well-informed Mark Schalbach of ESPN.com RIGHT HERE

Hawkins, according to the story, did some not so good things here. While not saying that he mis-represented himself, he came across as someone who knew exactly what he was doing. We aren't saying that Green is without guilt in his dealings with Hawkins, though we believe Green didn't think about what he was doing or who he might be dealing with.

Hawkins, it seems like, may be a front guy...a connector if you will, for several agents. He told Schlabach that he "Helps my friends sort through the process. It's not just one, I do lots of research".

Hmmmm. That sounds like an agent representative to us. Or maybe you can just call him a facilitator. Either way, it sounds like Hawkins is part of the overall bigger problem. Agents, not wanting to get caught contacting kids on their own, use a middleman to make contact and establish a relationship. That middleman then can basically market the kids to the highest bidder. And yes, Hawkins or the what we suspect are a large group of middlemen, get a cut of the agents cut should the player land a big contract.

We think the NCAA, though heavy-handed at times, is on the right track here. There is a huge problem with player contact that needs to be addressed and this may be the only way to do it.

We will add that they still need to do something about the stupid rules about players not being able to make any money off of their likenesses, something they will get to do as soon as they reach the NFL. Both the schools and the NCAA make a killing off of those sales, it's a load of crap to say the jersey's aren't about individual players.

Here is video of AJ Green making his 1st TD catch as a Georgia Bulldog in 2008. For what it is worth, I would have been standing roughly 2 or 3 people to the left of whomever shot this. Thanks YouTube:

DEVELOPING: AJ Green Is Out Until Further Notice: Translation "Four Weeks"

It has to do with the selling of a game-worn jersey of his... for less than a grand, and not found on eBay...

All that according to the four-letter's Mark Schlabach...

Schlabach also reports some "twists and turns" in the investigation despite Green's being honest about the whole thing...

Remember, though, a case involving Georgia players selling their 2002 SEC championship rings led to the NCAA instituting rules that prohibit players from selling their own gear. In 2003, nine Georgia players sold their rings to a jewelry broker, but the NCAA ruled it could not take any action against them because their rules weren't all that specific about selling your stuff...

All that in addition to his "not ever being to Miami" investigation about alleged involvement with a sports agent that he doesn't know...

1645 UPDATE: Green is suspended four games by the NCAA... Tim Tucker over at the AJC says the sale was to an individual the NCAA would classify as "an agent."

The jersey was Green's Independence Bowl jersey, and he has apparently repaid the thousand bucks to a charity. AD Greg McGarity is appealing the decision on the notion that he would like the number of games in the suspension reduced.

Green and head coach Mark Richt have released your standard, stereotypical statements on the matter. The HQ might put up some quotes, but you've seen them before... just with different athletes and different coaches.

Here's the Breaking News as it was treated by our friends at MyFoxAtlanta/WAGA-TV
FOSG Ken Rodriguez 'splains...

DEVELOPING: Georgia makes AJ Green sit out opener....

AJ Green/Courtesy: fantasycollegeblitz.com

We aren't sure what to make of this, but apparently, the University of Georgia has made a decision to keep star Wide Receiver AJ Green out of today's season opener versus Louisiana-Lafayette.

More from AJC.com's Georgia reporter Tim Tucker RIGHT HERE

Green was one of several players who were mentioned as possibly being involved in the South Beach agent party that has claimed games from multiple North Carolina players, an Alabama player and possibly others.
For his part, Green has denied ever setting foot in the city of Miami.

We think the reason Georgia did this is to protect themselves. We have no reason, on the surface, to believe that Green is lying about all of this. However, the NCAA is still "Investigating" and hasn't released or cleared him from that. On the odd chance that he was lying, which would...not go over so well in Athens, the school wants to make sure they don't have to forfeit the opener for using an ineligible player.

Here is Mr. Green against LSU last season catching a TD pass and getting a highly questionable penalty for celebrating. Thanks YouTube:

Ess-E-Cee Media Daze Day Two: Richt Speaks, UGA Front and Center...???

((HT: al.com, McAlister))

Georgia head coach Mark Richt was asked about the elephant in the room, and he answered as good a non-answer as he could have considering the circumstances...

Georgia's Mark Richt speaks at SEC Media Days

And AJ Green still says he's never been to Miami...

Georgia's A.J. Green speaks at SEC Media Days

TWTW: Georgia Escapes 20-17 Over Arizona State

((HT: Online Athens/Weiszer))

If anyone wondered who Georgia WR AJ Green was outside of the southeastern United States, those of us at OSG HQ think very few will need to ask the question after Saturday night's 20-17 win over Arizona State in Athens.

Another close call with too many turnovers...

"If it keeps happening like this we won't complain, but obviously, we don't believe that it's something that can continue," said quarterback Joe Cox, who completed 17 of 31 passes for 241 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.

"It does get frustrating. I'm glad our defense bailed us out tonight. We left them in a couple of tough spots."

You heard right, Joe Cox said the DEFENSE bailed them out

Georgia now has 12 giveaways - three in each of its four games - but has managed to overcome them to win three straight.

"We did it again," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "We found a way to win a close one. We found a way to make it close, and then we found a way to win it. I want to give credit to the entire team for just having that body and spirit that no matter how bad things get, they don't fold up."

Green blocked the potential go-ahead ASU field goal, caught a 36-yard pass from Cox that set up Georgia's turn...

Which led to this...
The Blair Walsh Project was a success...
((HT: The Youtube))