Southern California cornerback Josh Shaw has admitted to lying to
school officials about how he sprained his ankles last weekend,
retracting his story about jumping off a balcony to save his drowning
nephew.
Shaw has been suspended indefinitely from all of the Trojans' team activities after acknowledging his heroic tale was "a complete fabrication," the school announced in a statement Wednesday.
The school didn't explain how Shaw actually was injured, but USC officials say they regret posting a story on their website Monday lauding Shaw's story about a second-story jump onto concrete to rescue his 7-year-old nephew.
"We are extremely disappointed in Josh," USC coach Steve Sarkisian said. "He let us all down. As I have said, nothing in his background led us to doubt him when he told us of his injuries, nor did anything after our initial vetting of his story."
http://www.remo.com/forum/user/info?uid=15578
Shaw is a fifth-year senior, a team captain and a key starter in USC's defensive secondary, widely regarded as a solid teammate and an important team leader for the 15th-ranked Trojans, who begin their first season under Sarkisian at the Coliseum on Saturday against Fresno State.
"On Saturday, August 23, 2014, I injured myself in a fall," Shaw said. "I made up a story about this fall that was untrue. I was wrong not to tell the truth. I apologize to USC for this action on my part. My USC coaches, the USC athletic department and especially Coach Sarkisian have all been supportive of me during my college career and for that, I am very grateful."
Within hours after Shaw's tale was made public, the football program received phone calls contradicting Shaw's version of his injuries. Sarkisian has not said who made the calls, but the school acknowledged the discrepancies Tuesday morning and began investigating Shaw, who initially stuck to his story.
"I appreciate that Josh has now admitted that he lied and has apologized," Sarkisian said. "Although this type of behavior is out of character for Josh, it is unacceptable. Honesty and integrity must be at the center of our program. I believe Josh will learn from this. I hope that he will not be defined by this incident, and that the Trojan Family will accept his apology and support him."
Shaw didn't attend practice Wednesday, missing his second straight day of workouts.
Sarkisian insisted the situation won't be a distraction for the Trojans, but still allowed only two of Shaw's defensive team
Linebacker Hayes Pullard and defensive lineman Leonard Williams both acknowledged surprise at the situation that developed after Shaw's account was challenged, but remained supportive of their fifth-year senior captain.
"We were pretty shocked," said Williams, who hasn't spoken to Shaw. "Josh Shaw is a pretty loyal guy. I would never expect him to make up a story. I would never expect that out of him as a team leader."
Shaw's leadership and character were widely praised throughout his first two seasons of play at the school. He transferred back to his native Los Angeles area from Florida, in part to help out his ailing grandfather with the family landscaping business.
"Josh has been a great guy," Pullard said. "He has great character. I've never known him to lie about anything … so it's surprising. This is exactly when our leadership roles come in. We talk to guys and let them know what's expected, and we'll keep us focused on our team."
Sarkisian hadn't even coached his first game at USC before the high-profile program presented another challenge for its fourth head coach in less than a year.
Sarkisian huddled with school officials before addressing the media Tuesday and took only football questions for the first five minutes before addressing Shaw.
http://www.resilience.org/group-detail/2014-07-12/SEO-Backs
"I'm not surprised," Sarkisian said when asked about the contradictory phone calls he received. "I get calls on a lot of different things. We have to do our due diligence and vet everything, and we'll handle it internally. We'll see what happens with this one and move forward and give you guys an update."
Shaw was not available to the media, nor will he be until USC officials find out exactly what happened, Sarkisian said.
"Josh won't be available until we find out," Sarkisian said. "I just don't want to put him in a situation of answering questions that we really don't have all the answers to."
The one aspect of Shaw's injury Sarkisian could confirm was that the cornerback did suffer two high ankle sprains and would be out indefinitely.
"I will say the X-rays and MRIs we have taken on him have come back negative," Sarksian said. "So far we don't see anything structurally wrong with him but he is very sore."
Sarkisian said he wanted to put the situation behind him but wanted to get all the facts straight first.
"I think it's important to know your team," Sarkisian said. "I think it's important to know your players. Josh Shaw has been a good leader for us. He's given me no reason to not believe what's occurred but you need to know."
A transfer from Florida, Shaw has six interceptions in two seasons at USC. He was voted a team captain last weekend and is expected to be a major part of the Trojans secondary after starting all 14 games in 2013.
Shaw has been suspended indefinitely from all of the Trojans' team activities after acknowledging his heroic tale was "a complete fabrication," the school announced in a statement Wednesday.
The school didn't explain how Shaw actually was injured, but USC officials say they regret posting a story on their website Monday lauding Shaw's story about a second-story jump onto concrete to rescue his 7-year-old nephew.
"We are extremely disappointed in Josh," USC coach Steve Sarkisian said. "He let us all down. As I have said, nothing in his background led us to doubt him when he told us of his injuries, nor did anything after our initial vetting of his story."
http://www.remo.com/forum/user/info?uid=15578
Shaw is a fifth-year senior, a team captain and a key starter in USC's defensive secondary, widely regarded as a solid teammate and an important team leader for the 15th-ranked Trojans, who begin their first season under Sarkisian at the Coliseum on Saturday against Fresno State.
"On Saturday, August 23, 2014, I injured myself in a fall," Shaw said. "I made up a story about this fall that was untrue. I was wrong not to tell the truth. I apologize to USC for this action on my part. My USC coaches, the USC athletic department and especially Coach Sarkisian have all been supportive of me during my college career and for that, I am very grateful."
Within hours after Shaw's tale was made public, the football program received phone calls contradicting Shaw's version of his injuries. Sarkisian has not said who made the calls, but the school acknowledged the discrepancies Tuesday morning and began investigating Shaw, who initially stuck to his story.
"I appreciate that Josh has now admitted that he lied and has apologized," Sarkisian said. "Although this type of behavior is out of character for Josh, it is unacceptable. Honesty and integrity must be at the center of our program. I believe Josh will learn from this. I hope that he will not be defined by this incident, and that the Trojan Family will accept his apology and support him."
Shaw didn't attend practice Wednesday, missing his second straight day of workouts.
Sarkisian insisted the situation won't be a distraction for the Trojans, but still allowed only two of Shaw's defensive team
Linebacker Hayes Pullard and defensive lineman Leonard Williams both acknowledged surprise at the situation that developed after Shaw's account was challenged, but remained supportive of their fifth-year senior captain.
"We were pretty shocked," said Williams, who hasn't spoken to Shaw. "Josh Shaw is a pretty loyal guy. I would never expect him to make up a story. I would never expect that out of him as a team leader."
Shaw's leadership and character were widely praised throughout his first two seasons of play at the school. He transferred back to his native Los Angeles area from Florida, in part to help out his ailing grandfather with the family landscaping business.
"Josh has been a great guy," Pullard said. "He has great character. I've never known him to lie about anything … so it's surprising. This is exactly when our leadership roles come in. We talk to guys and let them know what's expected, and we'll keep us focused on our team."
Sarkisian hadn't even coached his first game at USC before the high-profile program presented another challenge for its fourth head coach in less than a year.
Sarkisian huddled with school officials before addressing the media Tuesday and took only football questions for the first five minutes before addressing Shaw.
http://www.resilience.org/group-detail/2014-07-12/SEO-Backs
"I'm not surprised," Sarkisian said when asked about the contradictory phone calls he received. "I get calls on a lot of different things. We have to do our due diligence and vet everything, and we'll handle it internally. We'll see what happens with this one and move forward and give you guys an update."
Shaw was not available to the media, nor will he be until USC officials find out exactly what happened, Sarkisian said.
"Josh won't be available until we find out," Sarkisian said. "I just don't want to put him in a situation of answering questions that we really don't have all the answers to."
The one aspect of Shaw's injury Sarkisian could confirm was that the cornerback did suffer two high ankle sprains and would be out indefinitely.
"I will say the X-rays and MRIs we have taken on him have come back negative," Sarksian said. "So far we don't see anything structurally wrong with him but he is very sore."
Sarkisian said he wanted to put the situation behind him but wanted to get all the facts straight first.
"I think it's important to know your team," Sarkisian said. "I think it's important to know your players. Josh Shaw has been a good leader for us. He's given me no reason to not believe what's occurred but you need to know."
A transfer from Florida, Shaw has six interceptions in two seasons at USC. He was voted a team captain last weekend and is expected to be a major part of the Trojans secondary after starting all 14 games in 2013.
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