Slowly but surely, Javon Charleston is climbing out of Will Muschamp‘s doghouse.
In mid-June, the South Carolina defensive back was arrested on one count each of assault and burglary following a domestic-related incident and indefinitely suspended by the football program. Last week, Charleston (pictured, right) entered a pretrial intervention program that, as a first-time offender, will ultimately see the charges dropped, provided he completes the program successfully.
Tuesday, Muschamp confirmed that, after a weekend meeting between the two, Charleston has been reinstated to the football team. When he’ll be permitted to take the field on Saturdays, however, remains to be seen.
“I met with him on Sunday and discussed his situation at length. After those meetings, I decided to reinstate him to the team,” the head coach said by way of The State. “As long as he enters the [pretrial intervention program], handles his business and handles some things I [want him to] do as well, then we’ll decide on playing time.
“We’ll decide that at the appropriate time, and that’s not right now.”
Charleston was initially a walk-on to the Gamecocks who was placed on scholarship during summer camp in 2017. The wide receiver-turned-defensive back appeared in 13 games last season, with most of those appearances coming on special teams.
Exiting spring practice this year, Charleston was penciled in as a starting safety.