National Football League

Take the money and run

Updated Sep. 13, 2022 12:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Steve Eubanks
FOXSportsSouth.com
Dec. 24, 2010

Talk about foreshadowing.

Georgia receiver A.J. Green denying rumors he has decided to enter the NFL draft the same week that Terrelle Pryor and four of his Ohio State teammates are suspended for five games for selling their own stuff. After all, the Buckeyes committed the same infraction that earned Green a four-game suspension in September and started Georgia on its pitiable 2010 spiral.

You can't blame Green for deflecting. Despite their atrocious year, the Dawgs have a bowl game to play on New Year's Eve. But every fan in the Bulldog Nation knows where A.J. is headed, and those with half a brain have already written him off as gone. The Ohio State suspensions just make the decisions for Green and any other third-year player that much easier.

In case the message isn't clear enough to Green, Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Cam Newton -- even to questionable NFL draftees like Stephen Garcia and Courtney Upshaw: The NCAA has just told you in no uncertain terms to run. Get out while you can. Take the money, and wish your teammates the best on your way out the door.

No matter how much you love your school, your coaches, your teammates or your cheerleaders, remember, the NCAA does not have your best interest at heart. In fact, the jacket-and-tie-wearing Scions of Indianapolis will go out of their way to do the silliest things possible to protect what they deem the integrity of the game, no matter how inherently foolish or unfair it is to those who actually play.

Pryor and his pals are a perfect example.

Along with running back Daniel Herron, wide receiver DeVier Posey, offensive lineman Mike Adams and defensive end Solomon Thomas, Pryor, a Heisman hopeful at the beginning of the 2010 season, sold personal belongings to help out family members during the Christmas season.

They didn't hold up a liquor store, they didn't shave points in a gambling scandal, they didn't deal Meth at an elementary school. They sold their personal stuff, items that belonged to them. For that, they and their teammates must suffer through a third of the 2011 suspension.

Green knows the feeling. At the time he sold his personal Independence Bowl jersey, a shirt he had worn and that was given to him, the University of Georgia was selling 23 different versions of A.J. Green jerseys for prices ranging from $29 to $150. The NCAA rules were clear: Green was not supposed to profit by selling his own jersey. But you don't have to be a broke college kid to see the inequity of the situation. Green couldn't even autograph any of the millions of dollars worth of jerseys Georgia sold and accept as much as a Coca-Cola for his troubles.

And it's not like the NCAA rules have been in place and known to all for decades. In 2003, nine Georgia players were suspended for selling their Sugar Bowl rings and defensive lineman Kedric Golston got an additional kick in the pants for selling his Sugar Bowl jersey. But, at the time, selling rings was not a violation as long as they were sold at "fair market value."

What the heck does that mean? How do you calculate fair market value for a ring that is given only to the winners of a major bowl game? Most economists would tell you that fair market value for anything is what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to accept. But not in the rarified world of the NCAA. For the rule makers, common terms like "fair market value" and "personal property" mean whatever they deem them to mean.

Now, imagine for a moment the plight of Terrelle Pryor. In the toughest economic environment since The Great Depression and the coldest December in 30 years, his loving mother is running a little short of cash. How difficult is it for a mom to share that kind of news with her son? How emotional must it have been for Pryor to realize that the woman who raised him, sacrificed for him, did all she could get set him on the right path, needed his help?

Looking around, Pryor had a room full of stuff he never wore and couldn't use