Former Clemson star gives back to local community in so many ways
By: will-vandervort July 5, 2018

When a young man becomes a football player on his local high school team little boys at the elementary school look up to him. When he goes on to become a college football star, they begin to idolize him. When he goes on to the NFL, they want to be him.

This is what is like being Shaq Lawson. A local kid at nearby Daniel High School in Central, S.C., who went on to become an All-State player and help the Lions become one of the premiere programs in the state of South Carolina. After he was through at Daniel, he went to Clemson, literally just a few miles down the road. He became an All-American at Clemson while leading the Tigers to 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Now Lawson is in the NFL where he is living out the dreams of many young boys in his hometown. The former Clemson star, who was drafted by the Buffalo Bills with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, is one of four players from Daniel High School currently playing in the NFL. Jarvis Jenkins (Kansas City), Deandre Hopkins (Houston) and DeShawn Williams (Denver) are the other three. Of course they all went to Clemson, too.

“It is great coming back home and giving to the community, especially to those young kids that look up to us,” Lawson said. “We impact those guys in so many ways.”

Lawson, along with Jenkins and Williams, returned home last week to give a little something back to the community. They hosted the 2018 Daniel Alumni Football Camp, a free camp for kids in the area. It was the fourth year in a row they held the event in Central.

On Monday, the 6-foot-3, 267-pound defensive end took it a step further when he helped another one of his former teams … the Central Rec League Tigers. Lawson bought the recreation league’s brand new scoreboard for the upcoming season.

Lawson, who paid $22,000 for the scoreboard, donated it in the memory of his father, Lawrence, who passed away due to a car accident back in April of 2011. Lawrence was a longtime referee and coach in the Central Recreation Department.

Lawson will report to Buffalo’s training camp on July 26 at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y.

 

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