A. J. Hawk

Aaron James Hawk (born January 6, 1984) is an American sports analyst and former American football linebacker who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL).

Hawk was a two-time All-State player in high school (1999 and 2000).

Hawk enrolled in Ohio State University, and played for coach Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 2002 to 2005.

Ohio State won the 2002 BCS National Championship with Hawk as a freshman.

During his four-year Buckeye career, he played in 51 games, starting 38 of them.

He had 394 tackles with 196 of them solo, 41 of them for losses, 15 and a half sacks, seven interceptions, and 13 passes broken up.

He also had two fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, and two touchdowns, one on a blocked punt and one on an interception.

His performances earned him first-team All-Big Ten honors in all three years he started and the Most Valuable Player award for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

They made the decision to do so after reading about him in Jim Tressel's 2004 Winners Manual handed out to all the players in the fall.

Tillman turned down a National Football League (NFL) contract worth $3.6 million to join the Army in May 2002, after the outbreak of The War on Terror and was killed in action by friendly fire on April 22, 2004.

Following his senior season of 2005, he won the Lombardi Award as the best college football linebacker, and was recognized as a unanimous All-American.

Before the 2005 season for the Ohio State Buckeyes Hawk, along with fellow starting linebackers Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel and center Nick Mangold, grew their hair out long to honor Pat Tillman.

He was selected by the Green Bay Packers fifth overall in the 2006 NFL Draft and he would later win Super Bowl XLV with the team over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He was also a member of the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons.

He played college football at Ohio State, where he earned All-American honors twice and won the Lombardi Award as a senior.

He won the BCS National Championship with the Buckeyes as a freshman.

Hawk was born in Kettering, Ohio, and grew up in Centerville, a suburb of Dayton.

He attended Centerville High School, where he was a teammate of former Cincinnati Bengals kicker Mike Nugent on the football team.

As a freshman at Centerville High School, Hawk made the varsity football team.

He holds multiple defensive records and was one of three active NFL players who played for the Centerville Elks high school football team.

Hawk's records include most tackles in a game (31) on three occasions.

He also has the most career tackles (583).

The Green Bay Packers selected Hawk in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft.

He was the first linebacker drafted in 2006.

On July 28, 2006, the Green Bay Packers signed Hawk to a six-year, $37.50 million contract that included $14.76 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $1.91 million.

Head coach Mike McCarthy named Hawk the starting weakside linebacker to begin his rookie season, alongside strongside linebacker Brady Poppinga and middle linebacker Nick Barnett.

He made his professional regular season debut during the Green Bay Packers' season-opener against the Chicago Bears and made five combined tackle (three solo) and one pass deflection during their 26–0 loss.

On September 24, 2006, Hawk recorded eight combined tackles (five solo) and made his first career sack on Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna for a nine-yard loss during the fourth quarter.

In Week 12, Hawk collected a season-high 15 combined tackles (ten solo) during a 34–24 loss at the Seattle Seahawks.

On December 10, 2006, Hawk recorded five combined tackles (four solo), a pass deflection, and made his first career interception during a 30–19 win at the San Francisco 49ers in Week 14.

He intercepted a pass by 49ers' quarterback Alex Smith, that was originally intended for Vernon Davis, and returned it for a 25-yard gain during the fourth quarter.

Hawk started in all 16 games as a rookie in 2006 and finished the season with 119 combined tackles (82 solo), six pass deflections, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions, and a forced fumble.

He was third place in voting for the Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders retained Hawk, Barnett, and Poppinga as the starting linebackers in 2007.

In Week 3, he collected a season-high 11 combined tackles (five solo) during a 31–24 victory against the San Diego Chargers.

He finished the season with 105 combined tackle (78 solo), four pass deflections, a sack, and one interception in 16 games and 16 starts.

The Green Bay Packers finished first in the NFC North with a 13–3 record and earned a first round bye.

On January 12, 2008, Hawk started in his first career playoff game and made one solo tackle during the Packers' 42–20 victory against the Seattle Seahawks during the NFC Divisional Playoff.

The following week, Hawk made seven combined tackles (four solo) and one sack as the Packers lost 23–20 against the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game.

The New York Giants went on to defeat the New England Patriots 17–14 in Super Bowl XLII.