Leave it to Jay Cutler to get a college football program in hot water even though he’s, one, no longer a part of collegiate football and, two, he’s not associated with the program in question.
According to the Athens Banner-Herald, Cutler gave four tickets to then-Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford for a Broncos-Falcons game at the Georgia Dome November 16. Stafford then gave three of the tickets to his Bulldog teammates.
Needless to say, the NCAA frowns on such gifts and Georgia, after investigating a tip from the NFL Players Association, self-reported the secondary violation along with three others involving the football program.
Fullback Shaun Chapas told The Banner-Herald that he received one of the tickets, and that the players were made to donate $40 -- the face value of each ducats -- to the Boys and Girls Club of Athens.
The paper obtained their initial information through an open records request, where they notified SEC commissioner Mike Slive of a potential violation on December 10. On January 9, two days after Stafford officially declared for the draft, Georgia self-reported the violation to the NCAA.
The NFLPA was initially concerned that an agent had made improper contact with a Georgia player when they notified the school.