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Friday, September 10, 2010

Morning links

In case you didn't see it, here's the ESPN story that says the recipient of A.J. Green's jersey was a former North Carolina player. Chris Hawkins, who played for UNC from 2001-03 until being kicked off the team, said he identified himself to Green as a memorabilia collector and financial adviser.

But Hawkins is also linked to the investigation at North Carolina, which has ensnared a number of players. A source told ESPN that Tar Heel players told the NCAA that Hawkins referred them to two different agents. If that's true, it's no surprise the NCAA decided to define him as an agent.

The key for Green, as far as his appeal, will be how much ignorance he can plead about Hawkins' status.

Other than the appeal, however, that may be it as far as the investigation's impact on Georgia - assuming no other links to Hawkins or the agent come out.

North Carolina is still on the clock as far as the NCAA investigation. And the football team's academic issues may pre-date this year, according to this report.

We'll keep you updated.

- In other news, here's my story from this morning's papers on the two quarterbacks in Saturday's game. Georgia's Aaron Murray and South Carolina's Stephen Garcia played at nearby rival high schools in Tampa, Fla., though never against each other. They will at Williams-Brice.

The two high schools, Jefferson and Plant, are four miles apart, according to Mapquest. They both reside in relatively upscale areas in Tampa, Fla., both have pretty good football programs and consider themselves rivals.

Aaron Murray has a distinct memory of one tussle between the two schools. He was a sophomore at Plant, watching his team take on Jefferson, whose quarterback was a senior named Stephen Garcia. Plant was led by a senior quarterback with an equal amount of hype, Robert Marve. Plant won on a late touchdown by Marve and went on to win the state title.

“It was a huge battle between those guys, the Mavre-Garcia showdown,” Murray said.


- More NCAA investigation news: Here's a copy of the letter South Carolina received yesterday, notifying it of an official inquiry into its football program.

To repeat a point I made on Twitter yesterday, the South Carolina letter of inquiry is different from what Georgia received in July. Georgia received an "interview notice" for a student-athlete.

- Tennessee, meanwhile, is also being looked at by the NCAA, according to ESPN.com. That includes the men's basketball and football programs. The school has yet to receive a letter of inquiry, but the NCAA has already met with coaches there, including Bruce Peal.

Anybody here think the NCAA is considering just moving its offices to somewhere in the Southeast?

- Finally, there was an honest-to-goodness football game in the SEC Thursday night. Auburn used its defense to beat Mississippi State, 17-14.

Auburn QB Cameron Newton, who a week earlier played like Warren Moon in his starting debut, could have been Soleil Moon Frye in the second half against Mississippi State. Newton threw two touchdowns in the first half, then sat back and watched the defense hold the Bulldogs.

This either means that Auburn's defense is going to be better under Gene Chizik than we thought - or Dan Mullen's offense at Mississippi State still has a WAYS to go.

10 comments:

202dawg said...

Would sound about right if they DID have an office down here.

"NCAA! Now with offices in Indianapolis, Atlanta and Hell!"

Matt said...

Seth-
It was MSU who's offense has a way to go. They were running all over Auburn. Also, if they had decent receivers, they would have scored more too.

I kept screaming at MSU to run the football. Auburn had a hard time with that.

BUT....MSUs defense and special teams surprised me a bit. They had a fantastic onside kick in the 3rd Quarter.

Should be a good game for us in 2 weeks.

Jay said...

Chris Lowe is reporting that Culiver has been cleared by NCAA to play against UGA

Anonymous said...

Nitpicking here, but doesn't your last phrase in the Murray/Garcia story indicate that Marve went to Jefferson? I thought it was Garcia at Jefferson and Marve/Murray at Plant. Just an fyi, great work on the blog!

Anonymous said...

Who uses Mapquest anymore? Nice article and I'm enjoying the blog.

Anonymous said...

Not nit-picking here but it seems to me that the quality and quantity of your posts lack that of your trail blazer.....

UGA69Dawg said...

Dan Mullens really believes that stuff about how he has as many QB in the NFL as Saban. Last night Mullen in an effort to showcase his freshman Qb blew any chance MSU had of winning. It also set the tone for what we are going to see in Columbia. SCU aint LA-LA. Am will be lucky to get out alive. If Ellis Johnson puts the 8 in the box I believe he will and our O-line looks as confused as they did last week, it's going to be a long day. Even WE can't run it against 8 of SCU's boys with poor blocking.

Anonymous said...

Seth,
Did you cover Aairon Savage when you were in Albany? Sounds like a tough kid.

Todd said...

Seems to me the NCAA needs to be more clear in its definition of an agent. Is Green still in the wrong selling his jersey? Yes, only because the rules say it is. Knowing that this guy is not an agent, would that change the severity of Green's penalty? I don't know. But this guy is a selfish SOB that will lie to kids about his identity for his own gain. What he did was completely unethical. Like Saban said, he's no better than a pimp. Was it illegal? I have no idea, but the guy should get some form of punishment. I feel bad for Green because this hurts his reputation. Remember, though, he's a naive kid that the media has propped up as a celebrity. Eighteen to twenty-year olds don't have the mental maturity or experience to handle this. And guys like this Hawkins-character know it and use it to their advantage. What a loser.

Anonymous said...

"A source told ESPN that Tar Heel players told the NCAA that Hawkins referred them to two different agents. If that's true, it's no surprise the NCAA decided to define him as an agent."

So presumably you feel that the NCAA's designation as an agent was appropriate, and therefore so was AJ's punishment. Is it any surprise to you, since you're revealing your thoughts, that consideration wasn't given to the fact that AJ had no way of knowing that. Should basing the punishment on Hawkins' status as an agent consider whether AJ knew he was an agent? It seems possible to me, but then I don't write a UGA blog.