Shaq Lawson had lost his father in a car accident at age 16, and felt compelled to help his mother with his four younger siblings. While he capably served as a father figure in the absence of his own and decided to accept a scholarship to Clemson instead of Tennessee to be closer to home, his grades were where he came up short. Despite his best efforts he could not qualify to enroll at Clemson, which meant one thing, military prep school.
Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia would be where Lawson would be getting his grades in order for the next six months to make him academically eligible for Clemson and football.