Updated 10:58 AM EDT, Sat, May 18, 2024

Josh Shaw: USC Validating CB's Heroic Act

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No good deed goes unpunished--especially if the turn is allegedly made-up.

Acting on speculations aired to him Tuesday, USC Trojans coach Steve Sarkisian said the school is launching a probe into the news that Josh Shaw sustained two high ankle sprains when he saved a nephew over the weekend, a plot that first appeared on the USC Trojans website.

While at a family gathering at his cousin's place in Palmdale, the senior cornerback saw from the second floor balcony that his nephew, 7, was drowning in the pool, the report said. He allegedly jumped and landed on the concrete, then crawled into the pool to help his now traumatized nephew.

Shaw then emerged from the pool on upper body strength. He will be taken out of the games indefinitely because of the incident that happened shortly after he was named team captain at the Saturday Salute to Troy.

"That was a heroic act by Josh, putting his personal safety aside. But that's the kind of person he is. It is unfortunate that he'll be sidelined for a while and we will miss his leadership and play, but I know he'll be working hard to get back on the field as soon as possible," Sarkisian was even quoted as saying in the USC Trojans report.  

But that sympathy seems missing in a Tuesday quote, after Sarkisian admitted to receiving calls questioning the story.

"I'm going to refrain from talking about the situation itself... I will say that Josh had never given us any indication not to believe his story. He's been a kid of very high character for us, a team leader, elected team captain. I had no reason not to believe him," the coach said Tuesday during a Pac-12 teleconference, per USA Today.

Sarkisian declined to identify who contacted him but said USC officials were not allowing the 6 foot 1 inch athlete to do interviews with the media while the investigation is ongoing, CBS Los Angeles said.

However, USA Today said, Asia Shaw, who identified herself as Shaw's older sister and the mother of the boy, Carter, said the football player did save the child, reacting to speculations that he got the injury from a burglary incident instead.

NBC Sports said there was no drowning reported to the Los Angeles County Sheriff. The mother of Carter, however, said there was no respiratory impairment to concern the police with.  

According to USA Today, the police's public information officer, Sara Fader, said a burglary occurred at 11 p.m., Saturday, at the residence of a woman who identified herself as Josh Shaw's girlfriend. But she said, "No one pointed a finger at him as a suspect." Shaw also hasn't changed his story.

While the real score is unclear as yet, the Trojan head coach told CBS Los Angeles that team doctors found no broken bones in Shaw's legs. But if the story is found to be fiction, he could stay out of the field long after healing time.

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