Georgia’s A.J. Green sold his Independence Bowl jersey for $1,000 to a person the NCAA considers an agent. Not smart.
It didn’t matter that the junior receiver since has given the $1,000 to charity. And it’s besides the point that the school makes a ton of money selling his replica jerseys in the campus store. The NCAA suspended him for the Bulldogs’ first four games as a consequence.
Inappropriate contact with agents has been perhaps the biggest topic/headache for football coaches this summer. North Carolina had to play its opener against LSU without 13 players because of possible academic fraud and contact with agents. Alabama’s Nick Saban banned agents from practice and likened them to pimps after one of his players was investigated for attending an agent-sponsored party in South Beach.
Green denied the rumor he also attended that party, but the length of his suspension suggests the NCAA might be looking into more than the Jersey Score — and perhaps is sending a message that these days Green should have known better.
