- Thread starter
- #1
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2006
- Messages
- 22,187
- Reaction score
- 253
Via AJCNo surprise here, but A.J. Green made it official this afternoon: He will forgo his senior season at Georgia and enter the NFL draft.
The Bulldogs’ junior wide receiver had been widely expected to enter the draft, with analysts projecting him to go in the top five picks and perhaps even as the No. 1 overall selection.
Green said the last week or so has been “hectic” as he finalized the decision with his family. He said he also talked with two former teammates who are in the NFL, quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for me,” Green said this afternoon from his home in Summerville, S.C. “This is a long-time dream since I was a little boy. I feel like my skills are up to par to make this next jump. . . . I feel like this is the best decision for me.”
Even so, he said, “it was one of the toughest decisions I’ve made, just leaving the brotherhood I have made at Georgia. . . . I’m going to really miss that.”
He said he told coach Mark Richt “a couple days ago” that he’d enter the draft, but said he wasn’t completely sure of the decision until Saturday.
Green said he regrets that the Bulldogs did not win a championship in his three years in Athens.
“It hurt,” he said. “That’s what I came there for, but things always happen for a reason. I’m going to be a Bulldog for life.”
Green is aware of the speculation that, with Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck opting to stay in school, he might have a chance to be the No. 1 pick. But he said he is not focusing on that. “You never know with that draft,” he said. “I’m going to work [to be drafted] as high as I can.”
He acknowledged the Carolina Panthers, who will have the No. 1 selection, would be close to home. “I’m pretty sure a bunch of my family and friends could make that trip easily,” he said.
-_-