USC appears lukewarm in welcoming back Josh Shaw

USC cornerback Josh Shaw may have been cleared of wrongdoing, but the Trojans don’t exactly appear eager to welcome their former captain back into the fold.

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office said Monday that it would not press charges against Shaw, who was the subject of a domestic violence investigation, but the school said it wants to do it’s own investigation before deciding on Shaw’s status.

Shaw was a former starter before he was suspended indefinitely after lying about the events that led to two sprained ankles. Shaw told USC he injured his ankles jumping from a balcony into a swimming pool to save his 7-year-old nephew. The school published the heroic story on its football website.

However, questions surfaced about the validity of the story and Shaw later confessed that he had made the entire thing up. Shaw was injured while jumping from a balcony, but it was to evade police after neighbors called 911 when they heard shouting and a lamp breaking in Shaw’s apartment. Shaw and his girlfriend had gotten into a verbal altercation and the girlfriend threw the lamp on the floor on her way out of the apartment. Shaw saw the police from his window, panicked and thought it better to jump than face the authorities.

It’s likely that it's the lying that's keeping Shaw, a senior, off the field this season. Even though Shaw had no prior history of getting into trouble, his lie created a massive PR headache for the school.

Coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about Shaw’s status on Tuesday and he seemed lukewarm on the idea of letting Shaw back on the team. The Trojans still have regular season games against UCLA and USC and could still play in the Pac-12 championship. It also has a bowl game.

“It would be great for Josh,” Sarkisian said when asked how much he would like to have Shaw back. “It’s your senior year, you want to play, especially against your two rivals.

“We’ve played 10 games without him so we have a pretty good understanding of who we are. It would be nice for Josh. It would be nice to have him, but again we’ve played 10 games without him.”

For more USC news, visit TrojanSports.com.

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