Unable to play final year of college with Gamecocks, former USC player has new team

Javon Charleston gave little indication of his new team on his Twitter or Instagram profiles.

But the former South Carolina safety, whose Gamecocks career ended with an eligibility issue, has a new home at the University of West Georgia.

The defensive back from Illinois is listed on the Wolves roster more than half a year after news broke he could not play his final season in South Carolina. He started school early, and thus his five-year clock, a year before enrolling at USC, meaning the only way he could play a fifth year was a transfer.

“Javon Charleston was enrolled as a full-time student at another school in 2014 initiating his five-year clock, which allows a student-athlete five calendar years in which to play four seasons of competition,” a USC spokesperson wrote in January. “He enrolled at the University of South Carolina prior to the start of the 2015 season.

“Based on the five-year clock, his Division I eligibility concluded at the end of the 2018 season. The student-athlete did not lose any eligibility due to any NCAA rules interpretations by the University of South Carolina.”

Charleston came through a winding road in his time in garnet and black.

He walked on and bounced between receiver and defense several times. He developed into a special teams ace and was given a scholarship before the 2017 season.

He joins a program that went 10-2 last season. It’s also the school where former Gamecock Shaq Roland finished out his career.

This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 12:21 PM.