Now, whether that means game time or just practice time remains to be seen.
Speaking at his annual golf outing Wednesday, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney was asked about the status of starting kicker Ammon Lakip. In late June, reports surfaced that Lakip had been charged with possession of cocaine and driving under the influence following an incident earlier that month.
“Ammon will hopefully have a chance to return to our team,” Swinney said. “At the earliest, it would be when school starts. But he’ll miss some time.”
What that means, the Charleston Post & Courier explains, is that “Lakip, a senior, could be reinstated sometime for the 2015 season, if not at the start of it.” Clemson opens the 2015 season with home games against FCS Wofford and Appalachian State before going on the road for the ACC opener against Louisville.
If Lakip is sideline for one or more of those games, he’d be replaced by redshirt freshman Alex Spence, who Rivals.com rated as the No. 9 kicker in the Class of 2014.
For his career, Lakip is 22-30 (73.3 percent) on field goal attempts and 51-52 on point after tries for 117 points in 20 games (13 starts). In 2014, Lakip was 21-28 (75.0 percent) on field goals and 43-44 on extra points for a team-high 106 points.
In November, he was named as one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award. Following his redshirt junior season, he was named honorable mention All-ACC by both the coaches and media.