Lawson vows to come back from Hargrave a better player

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Aug 18 19:19:01 GMT-04:00 2012

Shaq Lawson will be back in Clemson in January, and vows to be a better player for the effort.

Lawson, one of Clemson’s defensive line signees for the 2012 recruiting class, had one class to complete this summer in order to complete his high school course work and to be eligible to enroll at Clemson and play this semester.

However, the NCAA Clearinghouse managed to drag its feet through most of the process, before announcing late this week that Lawson didn’t have its blessing. As a result Lawson – who had been at many of Clemson’s practices while he waited on word from the NCAA – will have to attend Hargrave Military Academy for one semester. He will be eligible to return to Clemson in January and should be able to take part in spring practice.

Lawson’s head coach at Daniel High School told TigerNet that the class was Environmental Sciences, and that Lawson took the course in Oconee County because that was the only place it was offered.

“It was a long process, but when a kid goes to summer school in another district you don’t have a lot of control over it,” Robinson said. “Unfortunately, the NCAA questioned the summer school and the summer school course itself, which is a college prep course. But at the end of the day, the NCAA makes the rules and he wasn’t approved.”

Robinson said he met with Lawson Saturday to explain what happened.

“He is disappointed,” Robinson said. “He went over there and studied and worked hard and did what he was supposed to do and he wasn’t cleared. He doesn’t really understand why, but we had a meeting today and he is going to accept that and go up to Hargrave and work hard and come back to Clemson in January.”

Lawson told TigerNet Saturday that he vows to work hard and come back to Clemson ready to contribute.

“I knew it was about to come down,” Lawson said. “I had a feeling I might have to go to one of those military schools and I think it will help me in the long run. A lot of good players have done that – you look at Corey Crawford, he went up there and now he is starting. [Kevin] Dodd did that and now he is playing really well. I think it will help me in the long run.”