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LB A.J. Hawk (2x All-American, Lombardi Trophy, National Champion, Super Bowl Champion)

Hello All,

I'm new to the forum I'm a Green Bay Packer fan. As you know the Packers Drafted A.J. Hawk with their fifth overall pick this year in the draft. I watched their scrimmage the other night and AJ Didn't really jump out at me. I'm sure you guys get this question a lot but here goes How do you think A.J. Hawk will do as a pro football player? You guys know a hell of a lot more about him then I do. Thanks for reading my first post let me know what you think I will be glad to hear any more info I can get about AJ. Also the guy seems real classy saying how he hoped he was a packer and all that, but anyway I have rambled on:wink2: . Best of wishes to Ohio State this year :biggrin:
He'll be fantastic, no doubts here. :)

The scrimmage wasn't exactly the best chance to judge A.J. as a player for a few reasons. Keep in mind that he missed some valuable camp time finishing classes. And this may sound odd, but there was definitely a difference between the way he moved around the field between plays, more slowly and deliberately than the swagger we usually see, as though he were concentrating on the last play. (Warned you that it sounds pretty strange, but that's the stuff I notice.) My guess is that he's still in the process of moving everything into muscle memory, and it was slowing him down just a touch. Didn't seem a major issue, but you'll see a difference very soon IMO.

The linebackers as a unit also caught my attention. That was a very cohesive group at OSU, and I didn't see that sort of connection at the scrimmage. A.J.'s leadership traits are part of what makes him an extraordinary player, and those will take just a bit of time to emerge in a new situation. I fully expect him to have a positive impact on the way the defense works as a whole before much time passes.
 
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Rookie Hodge in the forefront at linebacker


The Associated Press


GREEN BAY, Wis. — A.J. Hawk arrived in Green Bay with the fanfare of being a top-five draft pick and high expectations that he'll be an immediate difference-maker on defense for the Packers.
Yet, another rookie linebacker out of a Big Ten Conference school, Abdul Hodge, has been the bigger playmaker early in training camp.
"(Number) 55 was in there a bunch," head coach Mike McCarthy said after the Packers' Family Night scrimmage Saturday before a full house at Lambeau Field.
Hodge led the defense with nine tackles, including five of his own doing.
The coming-out performance — albeit in a practice setting — for the NFL newcomer surprised neither the man who drafted Hodge out of Iowa in April nor the teammate who reaped much of the attention on draft weekend.
"He looks just like he did at Iowa — running around and making tackles," general manager Ted Thompson said Monday.
Said Hawk, a former rival at Ohio State: "I've seen him do that for a while now. I expected him to play like that."
Hodge was the ninth linebacker taken in this year's draft, going early in the third round with the 67th overall pick.
His transition to Green Bay, though, was overshadowed by the Packers' selection of Hawk with the fifth choice in Round 1.
Hawk was the first linebacker drafted in the top five since Washington grabbed LaVar Arrington at No. 2 in 2000.
The Packers instantly anointed Hawk their starter at weak-side linebacker. They paired him with middle linebacker Nick Barnett, their first-round draft pick in 2003, to form what they anticipated would be a dynamic duo for seasons to come.
However, Hawk, who missed the opening night of training camp July 28 before signing his contract, has been ordinary in the first week and a half of practices.
Hodge, on the other hand, has been the irresistible enforcer. He's been throwing aside blockers and chasing down ball carriers from sideline to sideline and he even knocked undrafted rookie running back Arliss Beach out of practice for most of last week with a concussion in a blitz-pickup drill.
"I think so," defensive end Aaron Kampman said Monday when asked if his fellow Iowa product is the real deal. "I say you measure a football player by his production. You can run him in a 40(-yard dash) and you can do this and you can do that, but in the end, what kind of football player are you? I think he's definitely a football player."
The irony is Hodge is a player without a prominent position on the team. He's No. 2 on the depth chart at middle linebacker, shadowing Barnett.
Hodge said the new coaching staff contemplated moving him to strong-side linebacker in the May minicamps, but the rookie stayed put at his natural spot in the middle, where he started 37 games over his last three years at Iowa.
Hodge is content with the reserve role for now but acknowledged in the afterglow of his superb showing Saturday that he's hungry for a starting job.
"I believe that if I keep doing what I'm doing and continue to make plays and fly around and get to the ball, they'll find a place for me," he said.
Hodge demonstrated in the scrimmage that he's at his best stopping the run.
Playing against the No. 1 offense, Hodge wrapped up Samkon Gado for only a 1-yard gain on third-and-2 in the opening series.
"He played well against the run," defensive coordinator Bob Sanders said after watching the tape of the scrimmage. "(But) he has to shore up his matchups a little bit more in the passing game."
On one pass play later in the scrimmage, Hodge was too overzealous for his own good. He stopped Gado for no gain but ripped him out of bounds with a horse-collar tackle from behind, drawing a 15-yard penalty.
Hodge admitted two days later his performance Saturday was far from polished.
"I'm a hard critic on myself. So, looking at the film and going back to the scrimmage, there's a lot of things I should have done better," he said.
Given the success Hodge had at middle linebacker in college — he led the Big Ten with an average of 13.2 tackles per game in 2005 — there's speculation that the Packers would get him in the starting lineup by moving Barnett to the outside. Free-agent signee Ben Taylor is presently the starter on the strong side.
Barnett started at strong-side linebacker at Oregon State before the Packers moved him inside to fill a void at the start of his rookie season.
Barnett on Monday reiterated comments he made earlier in training camp that he's not in favor of changing positions.
"Honestly, I'm not moving out of the middle," Barnett said. "If they decide to move me, they decide to move me. (But) there's going to be another discussion along with that as well."
Sanders said he and McCarthy haven't ruled out revamping the linebacker assignments, especially if Hodge continues to be the standout among the group.
"We'll play the best guys that we have, and if (Hodge) happens to be one of the best guys, we'll play him. If that means playing him at middle, that's fine," said Thompson, adding, "I'm not suggesting we're moving anybody."
 
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Hodge will make a ton of routine plays - very solid and steady, but not spectacular; perfect MLB mentality.

Hawk is a game-breaker with tremendous athleticism, like LaVar Arrington without the attitude; he could be a great one.
 
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USAToday

8/10/06

Football in Green Bay: 'It's phenomenal'

By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Rookie linebacker A.J. Hawk pulled into Lambeau Field's parking lot at 6:30 CT the morning of July 19, thinking he'd have the place to himself as he looked to get in a quick workout.
Hawk was stunned to see thousands of Packers backers tailgating and tossing footballs around hours before the team's annual shareholders meeting that morning.
That's when the fifth overall pick in the April draft realized just how special pro football is in Green Bay.
The Packers' Saturday night version of the movie Friday Night Lights only cemented Hawk's first impression. Second-year quarterback Aaron Rodgers compares the Packers' annual intrasquad scrimmage, called Family Night, to a cross between a big-time college spring football game and "a Jimmy Buffett concert." Much more than a glorified practice game, it's a cultural phenomenon unique to the NFL that attracted a record 62,701 green-and-gold faithful. All that's missing is the bonfire.
Though Hawk performed before big crowds at Ohio State, where 100,000-plus Buckeyes fans pack "The Horseshoe," Hawk and his younger teammates were awed by their Lambeau initiation.
"The tradition here is unbelievable," Hawk says. "That's what's great about Green Bay. It's a sellout for a scrimmage. That doesn't happen anywhere else in the NFL. We're so embraced by Packers fans. And they all stayed right to the end. It's phenomenal."

It's as if someone from the local chamber of commerce threw the switch on Lambeau mystique. The retro, brick shrine off Lombardi Avenue and Oneida Street came alive after six months of hibernation, the night sky lit up for miles.
Nostalgia and hope swirled in the midsummer air, thick as tailgate smoke. Families drove from all across Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana to grill their brats and cheer the return of their hero, Brett Favre. It doesn't matter that the Packers finished 4-12 last season, their first losing record during Favre's 14 years in Green Bay.
"I really believe that we're going to be better than people think we will be," Favre says, and the Pack's Saturday night lights might have illuminated some of his reasons for hope.
A night that begins with Favre throwing rockets to his receivers is capped by fireworks.
"It's a special place, and I'm honored to be coaching here," first-year coach Mike McCarthy says after an Aug. 3 night practice. "The Green Bay Packers' history is second to none.
"I remember, when I was quarterbacks coach here in 1999, I came jogging out of the locker room and I walked out of the tunnel with Brett Favre and I said, 'Can you believe this? There's 70,000 people, and we're doing pat-and-go drills and the fans are doing 'The Wave.' I was just blown away.
"It was my first Lambeau experience, and I'll never forget that as long as I live. With that in mind, when we do the introductions, I'll have my assistant coaches along with the players at their positions run out of the tunnel together. It's something they'll always remember.
"There's nothing like this scrimmage in sports."
In other cities, there might be other professional sports teams to watch play more meaningful games, the Yankees or Mets for instance in New York, where fans sometimes sell or give away their tickets rather than watch a preseason look-in on the Giants or Jets. Not in Green Bay, where fans are literally invested in their team.
"Any team that has 30,000 Packers shareholders, you know you're going to have a lot of people here seeing how you're progressing," says John Dorsey, the Packers director of college scouting. "From my perspective, it gives us a chance to see these young guys in a game-time situation, Saturday night lights.
"The uniqueness of this event is you have 62,000 people providing a live-game atmosphere, the energy level picks up and you see how guys respond to that.
"From a fans' perspective, it's (Packers chairman) Mr. (Bob) Harlan's way of showing respect to the fans with $8 tickets with parking lot proceeds all donated to (local and state) charities."
It is a rare chance for some fans to see the Packers firsthand, considering the long waiting list for season tickets.
Consider the remarkable case of Nancy and Chuck Cook, a couple in their late 60s who just learned that, after 47 years, their 1959 request for Packers season tickets was recently granted. Waiting 47 years for Social Security benefits is one thing. But for Packers tickets? It's the reward of a lifetime.
"We started going to Packers games in our 20s when Fuzzy Thurston, Bart Starr and Carroll Dale were here," Cook says.
Chuck's son, Steve, says Steve's son, Logan, 13, has bypassed the middleman and asked his grandparents that, when they pass away, they need to bequeath the tickets to Logan and brother Connar, 10, skipping a generation so they don't have to wait so long.
Farther down the parking lot, V.J. Scully and his wife, Leeanne, daughter Kylee, 15, and sons Jaden, 6, and Tyler, 4, are throwing a football before grilling burgers.
Tyler wears a forest-green jersey bearing a number that seems to be everywhere. So who's your favorite player, Tyler?
"Favre!" he says decisively.
Tyler's dad thought it would be cool for the kids to get a glimpse of the future Hall of Famer. "My husband was intent on making sure our kids saw Brett Favre play here before he retires," Leeanne says.
Scully has already put his kids on the Packers' season-ticket list.
What's the fuss over there?
There's a flock of folks huddled around a saintly looking fellow dressed in a green high-priest's miter that bears the beaming likeness of Vince Lombardi. Dressed in a flowing green robe with gold trim, he holds a staff crowned by a Packers cheesehead.
Who is this guy with a replica of the Lombardi Trophy as his ring?
It's "Saint Vince," aka John O'Neill, a 54-year-old, bearded, retired state worker who started dressing this way in 1997 in New Orleans before the Packers beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.
O'Neill was inducted into the Pro Football Fan Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 2000.
"I was trying to represent the spirit of Vince Lombardi coming back with his Packers for another Super Bowl, and it's grown in popularity ever since," O'Neill says.
Saint Vince poses for pictures with Darren and April Guindon, holding 3½-month-old son Vincent and 5-year-old Brett.
"Say 'Cheeseheads,' " O'Neill says before the picture is snapped.
The Guindons will send this to family and friends as the family Christmas card, as they did last year with a shot of Brett posing with Saint Vince.
Inside the spacious Lambeau atrium, Todd Harris, 32, watches as his three young boys whack each other with inflatable thunder sticks, which are free to everyone. The kids have painted faces, and they're having a ball. Unfortunately, their sister Brianne doesn't care much for getting bopped by their thunder sticks.
Things sure are different here. There is that same communal obsession with winning. It's just that people seem more good-natured about it, more forgiving, less demanding about it.
"You hear stories about how some NFL teams' fans don't really embrace their players all that much," Hawk says. "College football fans are more forgiving than NFL fans. Green Bay fans seem to have a short memory, too."
"As bad as we were last year, the fans still treat us with respect," center Scott Wells says. "They treat Family Night like a regular game. People come out to have a really good time and to party.
"It's their first chance to see what this team is going to be like."
Says receiver Donald Driver: "I remember that first time I walked out of the tunnel for this game in 1999. Coming from Alcorn State, a small school in Mississippi, I never expected 70,000 people for a scrimmage. It's exciting for our young guys.
"The fans want to see if the old faces still have it and if the new guys have it, too."
Driver showed he still has it, elevating above double coverage to pull down Favre's 42-yard rocket. The highlight play of the scrimmage set up Favre's quick slant-in touchdown pass to Driver a few plays later.
Green Bay is dotted by leafy neighborhoods and 1960s ranch-style homes, where the past is ever-present. Yesteryear mixes with the hopeful sense that "This can be our year."
Favre expressed just that sentiment July 31 in his first and only news conference of training camp.
"I really feel like this, as far as talent is concerned, is the most talented team that I've been a part of as a whole, but the most unproven, inexperienced team that I've ever played on," Favre said. "So if we can somehow put it together, there's a lot of talent out there."
A 4-12 season and a career-worst 29 interceptions is not how Favre wants to go out. The Packers were eighth in total defense last season, but they were 18th in total offense and lost eight games by seven points or less.
Before he decided to return for a 16th season, Favre spoke with former quarterback Don Majkowski, the Packers starter he replaced 241 consecutive starts ago, including the playoffs. "Brett Favre loves being Brett Favre," Majkowski says. "I'm friends with Brett, and I know how much he loves playing football and what it's meant to him to have success with the Green Bay Packers.
"But the thing he's most proud of more than winning a Super Bowl or his three league MVPs is his consecutive-starts streak, knowing his teammates and coaches can count on him week in and week out.
"To play at such a high level for so long, I know deep down he believes he's capable of still playing at that high level. He took the blunt of the blame last year. With the disastrous number of injuries that hit them, it wouldn't matter who would have quarterbacked, playing behind a non-existent line with almost no running game."
Inspiring Favre's optimism are such young talents as Hawk and second-round draft selection Greg Jennings, a polished and fearless route runner out of Western Michigan reminiscent of Baltimore Ravens veteran Derrick Mason.
McCarthy is implementing the user-friendly zone-blocking scheme he learned from Atlanta Falcons guru Alex Gibbs. He hopes it will keep Favre from having to do too much, help young guards Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz better use their athleticism and help running backs Ahman Green and Najeh Davenport in their returns from injuries.
Colledge is a 6-4, 299-pound second-round pick who played left tackle at Boise State, and Spitz is a 6-4, 313-pound third-round pick from Louisville. McCarthy says both were drafted because of their athleticism, an asset that will help them more easily transition to the zone-blocking scheme favored by the Denver Broncos and Falcons.
Charles Woodson was signed during the offseason to solidify a secondary that includes Al Harris and safeties Marquand Manuel and Nick Collins. Defensive end Aaron Kampman is underrated.
Favre threw accurately without an interception in the scrimmage, a sign he's finding his rhythm after a five-interception outing in his first training camp practice.
McCarthy wants Favre to play within the system with more caution and less reckless abandon. If that happens, the passing game will be more about 4- and 5-yard completions supplemented by a run game to set up downfield shots.
"I'm coaching Brett just like I've coached every quarterback I've ever been around," says McCarthy, who was with the Kansas City Chiefs with Joe Montana and Rich Gannon. "Just make smart decisions, don't push the envelope too much, which is Brett's personality. Let the game come to you."
As it did to more than 62,000 green-and-gold clad fans who came out to see why Favre has been talking up this team.
"It's really the kickoff to a new beginning," Dorsey says. "What better place to play a scrimmage than Lambeau?"
It's a bigger deal to fans, players and coaches than anyone in any other NFL city can imagine. Even bigger than the Wisconsin State Fair, right, John?
"It's bigger than Brat Fest in Sheboygan this weekend," Dorsey laughs.
 
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CNNSI

8/10
Scenes from Training Camp
015862891.jpg


It didn't take Packer rookie A.J. Hawk long to get in on the Green Bay tradition of riding a bike to the practice field.
 
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Can somebody grab AJ's stats for 2005 for me please? The official OSU page is not updated for his Senior year... THANKS


PS... I apologize if this has already been discussed but I can't possibly go through all the posts of this thread. Thanks again



:oh: :io:

121 total tackles (69 solo, 52 assists, including 18 TFL and 10 sacks).
 
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(Paul Posluszny) was in such a friendly mood, in fact, that when I mentioned all the E-mails I got from furious Ohio State fans when he won the Butkus over A.J. Hawk, Posluszny replied, "I agree with them. If I was voting, I would have voted for A.J. He was the best linebacker in the country last year."

Stewart Mandel @ SI.com

8/2

Regular season (pre-bowl) stats:

A.J. Hawk: 109 tackles (60 solo, 49 ast), 14 TFL, 8 sacks, 2 FF, 3 PD, 1 INT, 1 TD
Posluszny: 111 tackles (60 solo, 51 ast), 14 TFL, 4 sacks, 0 FF, 3 PD, 0 INT, 0 TD
 
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SportingNews.com

8/11/06

NEWCOMER REPORT: It's been an uneventful start for rookie LB A.J. Hawk. Most people thought his athletic ability would result in big plays from the very start, but Hawk has been very ordinary. In fact, third-round LB Abdul Hodge has made more plays than Hawk and is pushing to be a starter. Hawk hasn't been bad, but one would expect at least a big play or two from the fifth pick in the draft.
 
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8/13/06

Packers: Hawk starts slowly
JASON WILDE 608-252-6176
[email protected]
SAN DIEGO - Maybe next preseason, linebacker A.J. Hawk will show the same kind of improvement over his debut that quarterback Aaron Rodgers showed over his.


At any rate, the Green Bay Packers' two first-round picks can commiserate about struggling in their first NFL game action. And Rodgers will still have plenty of room to get better next year, too.

Just as Rodgers, who completed just 2 of 6 passes and had his helmet malfunction in his debut last year against the San Diego Chargers at Lambeau Field, came back Saturday night and was better against the same Chargers, Hawk's first game wasn't exactly a smashing success in the Packers' 17-3 loss at Qualcomm Stadium.

In fact, on the third defensive play of the game, Hawk gave all those folks who were already starting to doubt his worth as the No. 5 overall pick even more ammunition, being beaten badly by Chargers All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates for a 17-yard gain. Hawk was nowhere close to Gates on the play.

But after that, Hawk seemed to settle in, although he was mysteriously off the field two plays later.

"(Gates) made a good move but it shouldn't happen," Hawk said. "I just gave him the inside, and you can't do that. Especially with a guy like him.

That's an easy way to let him crease the defense."

The Chargers scored a touchdown anyway on the next play against the Packers' dime unit, but Hawk was back at will to start the next series, and made a nice play to stuff tight end Brandon Manumaleuna on a pass for no gain. Two plays later, Hawk and middle linebacker Nick Barnett took Manumaleuna down for just a 2-yard gain. On the Chargers' first play of their third possession, Hawk filled a hole perfectly and met halfback Michael Turner in the hole for no gain.

Rodgers, meanwhile, was one of the few bright spots for the Packers - at least until throwing an interception on his final pass of the night.

Nonetheless, Rodgers (9-of-11, 124 yards) looked poised and confident, one year removed from being a clueless rookie who led the team to just one touchdown in 20 preseason series.

He threw a perfect deep ball to rookie Greg Jennings for a 47-yard pickup to set up the Packers' first points (a Billy Cundiff field goal), then led the Packers into scoring position on the next possession after a successful onsides kick.

Rodgers got that drive going with a 13-yard completion to Ruvell Martin, then hit veteran Marc Boerigter for 18 yards. Boerigter fumbled on the play, and Chargers safety Marlon McCree returned it 73 yards for a touchdown, but the Packers challenged the call and replay showed Boerigter was down at the time of the fumble.

But three plays later, Rodgers threw a fade to Boerigter, and Chargers first-round pick Antonio Cromartie picked off the pass at the San Diego 2-yard line, ending the threat. Brian Wrobel took over for the Packers' next possession, with 7 minutes, 47 seconds to go.
 
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Aj Hawk Played well last night(too bad the packers played awful :( ). He got burned right away by Antonio Gates, but that is to be expected from a rookie matched up against one of the best TE's in the league. He looked great against the run and was one of the few bright spots. How was Aj covering receivers in college?
 
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