Thursday we noted that Clemson’s Lateek Townsend missed the first four games of the 2011 season because of an NCAA suspension for receiving impermissible benefits.
Friday we learn the specifics behind the linebacker’s suspension.
In a release detailing 10 secondary violations for the period between 2011-12 in all sports, and while the player’s name wasn’t specifically mentioned, Clemson revealed that Townsend had received $2,327 in impermissible benefits from an unnamed high school assistant coach -- $1,767 for a cell phone plan over a period of two years; $230 for “impermissible transportation to an unofficial visit"; and Christmas gifts (two Clemson polo shirts, one high school sweatshirt) to Townsend and Townsend’s brother that totaled $330*.
(Writer’s note: $330 for three shirts? Really?)
Clemson’s self-report also notes that "[i]t was discovered that [the high school] coach was marketing PSA to other collegiate institutions.” In revealing Townsend’s suspension earlier this week, sports information director Tim Bourret stressed that the high school assistant had and has no connection to Clemson. The “other collegiate institutions” to which the coach was marketing the player were not detailed.
In addition to the four-game suspension, which forced the Tigers coaching staff to scrap their plans to redshirt Townsend in 2011, Townsend will be “required to repay full cost of benefits ($2327) to a local charity.” Clemson has set up a repayment plan for Townsend, the report states.