After telling SC officials that he got his ankle injury right after jumping off a balcony to save his drowning seven year old nephew, Josh Shaw has retracted his statement and said that he made up those stories.
Because of this, school officials of Southern California have suspended the cornerback this Wednesday from all team activities.
It all started when Shaw was acknowledged for his exemplary behavior when he rescued his nephew in a pool in his hometown of Palmdale, California. It was said that right after the story broke out last Monday on the team's website; a lot of callers questioned the authenticity of the news.
According to USC coach Steve Sarkisian "We are extremely disappointed in Josh. 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."
Shaw issued a short statement through criminal defense attorney Donald Etra on Wednesday after being suspended.
He said "On Saturday, August 23, 2014, I injured myself in a fall. 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."
Shaw has not attended tow team workouts. Eventhough he is banned from team activities, his injuries also would keep him out of workouts for at least a few weeks.
Sarkisian responded to Shaw's admittance saying "'I appreciate that Josh has now admitted that he lied and has apologized. '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."
This will definitely serve as a lesson to all players that the truth will always come out. The next big question is that what caused Shaw's injury then?
