A.J. Hawk...Cash Cow

From the Dayton Daily News:

Ohio State souvenir outlets are selling A.J. Hawk jerseys in prodigious numbers. The school's director of athletic merchandise, Jason Hill, isn't at all surprised. The junior linebacker leads the Big Ten in tackles with 12.8 per game, and was named one of 12 finalist for the Butkus award, given to the nations top linebacker.

"The fans love him," Hill said. "He's energized. He has fun. He does the right things. He says the right things. He handles himself very well. And when all that comes together, it makes for a great jersey number."

OSU has sold about 1,000 replicas of the No. 47 jersey worn by Hawk, priced at $49.95 and $79.95, and has ordered 300 more. Other sports apparel stores are having trouble keeping the number in stock, too. The Buckeye Corner, which has four outlets in the Columbus area, carries about a half-dozen different OSU jerseys. Hawk is outselling the others combined by a 4-to-1 margin.

"We've sold into the thousands," said a company spokesman. "It's the No. 1 jersey right now from the kids' sizes all the way up to adults."

Except for Maurice Clarett's No. 13, which shattered sales records during the 2002 national championship season, Hawk's 47 has been in more demand than any other OSU jersey since Andy Katzenmoyer's 45 in the late 1990s.

Should Hawk get a cut of this money? I say credit him with a percentage of the sales, put it in escrow, then pay it out once he graduates. Any problems with that?