Slated to redshirt during his true freshman season last year, Clemson’s Lateek Townsend instead played a significant role on special teams -- after mysteriously sitting out the first four games of the season.
Wednesday, the mystery of the missing games was solved.
By way of both Travis Sawchik of the Charleston Post & Courier and Greg Wallace of the Anderson Independent Mail, Clemson sports information director Tim Bourret confirmed that Townsend missed the four games to open the season because he was serving a suspension levied by the NCAA. The suspension stemmed from Townsend receiving impermissible benefits prior to enrolling at Clemson, a cell phone provided by one of the assistant coaches at his Bennettsville, South Carolina, high school.
Bourret stressed that the high school assistant had no connection to Clemson.
The suspension foiled the coaching staff’s plan to redshirt Townsend as the punitive measure would’ve rolled over into the 2012 season. So, Townsend made his debut Oct. 1 against Virginia Tech and went on to play in a total of 10 games. In eight of those games, Townsend was limited to special teams duty.
Coming out of Marlboro County (SC) High School as a four-star recruit, Townsend was the No. 5 player at any position in the state of South Carolina and the No. 10 outside LB in the country.