Player Info

AJ Hawk

NFL Linebacker, Green Bay Packers

Career Highlights:

Career Highlights: A.J. Hawk, an indispensable defensive asset for the Green Bay Packers, begins his fifth season as a linebacker…Hawk has never missed a game in his pro career, playing in 64 games with 62 starts…Selected as a Pro Bowl alternate, he has been in the top two in tackles every season…In 2009 he finished second on the team with 87 tackles (70 solo) and matched his career high with two interceptions …Drafted by the Packers fifth overall in the 2006 NFL Draft, Hawk finished third in the Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, and earned a spot on Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers Association All-Rookie Team that season…Hawk was also chosen the team’s Defensive Player of the Year… He was the first linebacker drafted in the top five of the NFL Draft since Washington chose LaVar Arrington with the number two pick in 2000…Hawk led the Packers in tackles in 2006 with 155, the second most ever recorded by a Green Bay rookie…His 112 solo stops were third-best in the NFL among all players that season…Hawk finished second on the team in 2007 with 129 tackles… In 2008, he led the team with 121 tackles (84 solo) and was on the field for 869 of 1,050 defensive plays, the most among the team’s linebackers… In college at Ohio State, he was a consensus All-American both as a junior (2004) and a senior (2005)…Hawk earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors in each of his three seasons as a starter…He also was the recipient of the 2005 Lombardi Award, given annually to the nation’s top lineman or linebacker…Hawk is known for playing big in big games, such as the 2005 thriller versus No. 2 Texas when he picked off a Vince Young pass, and recovered one of the quarterback’s fumbles and forced another…He finished his senior year at Ohio State by sacking future brother-in-law Brady Quinn twice in the Fiesta Bowl triumph over Notre Dame, en route to his second career Fiesta Bowl Defensive MVP Award…Hawk played in 51 career games as a Buckeye with 38 starts, collecting 394 tackles (196 solo), 41 stops for loss, 15.5 sacks, seven interceptions, 13 passes broken up, two fumbles recovered and three forced fumbles…He also returned both a blocked punt and interception for touchdowns…Nicknamed A.J. by his parents, fans of the legendary Indy Car driver A.J. Foyt, Hawk grew his hair long in 2005 as a tribute to the late Pat Tillman, the former NFL player who lost his life with the U.S. Army while serving in Afghanistan.

Updated: June 2010
Courtesy NBC

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