This story has turned from insanely awesome to insanely awful pretty quickly. Josh Shaw — the USC football player who said that he injured himself by jumping off a balcony to save his nephew from drowning — has admitted to lying about the entire situation.
Here is USC’s statement on the matter:
USC senior cornerback Josh Shaw came to USC athletic department officials this afternoon (Wednesday, Aug. 27) and admitted that he had lied about how he suffered his ankle injuries over the weekend.
He said that the story he told of rescuing his nephew in a pool in Palmdale, Calif., was a complete fabrication. He apologized for misleading his coaches, teammates, athletic department officials and the public.
“We are extremely disappointed in Josh,” said USC head football coach Steve Sarkisian. “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.
“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.”
Sarkisian said that Shaw has been suspended indefinitely from all team activities.
Shaw has retained Donald Etra as legal counsel. Etra will issue a statement on Shaw’s behalf soon.
USC regrets the posting of the initial story on Monday (Aug. 25).
It should be noted that it is still unclear how Shaw injured his ankles. Though, according to TMZ, it may have something to do with an alleged burglary.
UPDATE: Here is Shaw’s statement (via his lawyer Donald Etra):
My client, Joshua Shaw, has asked me to make the following statement on his behalf:
“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 to not 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.”
[USC]
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