It was the feel good story of the 2014 college football season, until it wasn't.
The USC Trojans' starting cornerback Josh Shaw had originally claimed that he sustained two broken ankles leaping from a balcony in order to save a 7-year-old cousin who had been drowning in a nearby swimming pool. Shaw was hailed as a hero in newspapers and cable networks everywhere, until holes started appearing in his version of the story.
Eventually, it was revealed that Shaw didn't leap from that balcony as a hero, but rather to escape from some sort of domestic incident. Shaw was then suspended indefinitely by head coach Steve Sarkisian as punishment for his lies.
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Now Shaw has given an interview to the Los Angeles Times, in which he's finally come clean about what actually happened that August night that left him with two high-ankle sprains.
Shaw reports that he had had a verbal altercation with his long-time girlfriend that led to a police presence arriving at the apartment. Shaw adamently denies that the incident ever became physical, telling the newspaper: "I would never, ever hit a woman." However, he admits he fled once the police arrived, saying: "I was thinking the worst...If she did say anything, I'm a black man with dreadlocks, and with everything going on in the country at the time, all that stuff in St. Louis [Ferguson, Mo.] ... in my mind, I'm going to leap from the balcony so authorities did not see me."
Shaw concluded his interview with apologies to Sarkisian: "I regret it greatly... to lie to my head coach, who I greatly respect, that's tough."
Shaw's ankles have been medically cleared, but he has yet to see action for the Trojans this season.
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