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Interview: Chris Hawkins With 790 The Zone On His Role In A.J. Green's Suspension

Some clips from Chris Hawkins’ interview with 790 the Zone:

I get a lot of Facebook messages, a lot of Facebook threats over something that happened to me: the A.J. Green thing.

The NCAA thinks I’m an agent, which I’m not. Never worked for one, never been paid by one. I like A.J.‘s game; I like football. I just wanted his jersey. Talked to him bout it, bought it, and didn’t think that much of it. I guess once they investigated him on the Miami trip, they saw I got a 305 number [so they thought I was related].

I asked [Green]: “should [you] talk to some people [about the legality of the jersey sale]?”

I went out to UNC and spoke to the NCAA on behalf of the UNC guys. They try to make it seem like because those guys look up to me, that I was an agent.

I work with my friend [Redskins running back] Willie Parker, dealing with agents. I’m more like a manager for him.

On returning the NCAA’s calls:

They said I wouldnt talk to him. I spoke to the NCAA guy, Chance Miller. He called me from UGA with UGA lawyer. I was busy, told him I would call back. He gave me an extension to call back on, I called five times, it didn’t work. He called me the next day. Set up another time for a conference call. At that time I was busy. I don’t work for the NCAA. I speak with them when I can. I don’t drop everything. I try my best to help everybody out.

I called Amy from compliance at UNC and told her to leave Chance the message that I called.

That [claim that I didn’t return their calls] was definitely not true. If I was hiding from the NCAA — I actually met them in-person, face-to-face, to cooperate.

On his role in Green’s appeal:

Nah, nobody’s contacted me. I would do anything I could do.

On how often he talked to Green:

We really never contacted each other like that. I probably talked to him about four times. I knew a couple girls he knows. Only thing I ever really talked to him about after I got the jersey [wasn’t about football].

I really wasn’t thinking it was that big of a deal. I didn’t think about it enough to even think it would get him in trouble. I was only thinking of it as me having a jersey.

I think they really hit him with that because they’ve been trying to associate me with the Carolina thing and the Miami party. By their definition — I don’t know what kind of definition, because I never got paid by an agent. I know agents, I played sports — if that was the case, I would’ve put him on with people I know.

He sort of defined himself as an NFL player’s manager; did you catch that? If you’re the NCAA and you’ve made the choice to set yourself at AGENT THREAT LEVEL: FIRE TRUCK RED TRUCK ON FIRE RED, that does look suspect.

More to come on Green’s appeal soon.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.