San Diego State's Winston Shepard Suspended 3 Games

Add San Diego State‘s Winston Shepard to the list of NCAA suspensions this season.  Shepard, a freshman forward, will sit out three games for receiving impermissible benefits.

According to Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Tribune, Shepard co-signed on a car loan with a family he met while attending Findlay Prep in Las Vegas.  Although this was an inadvertent violation, SDSU reported it to the NCAA.

The suspension will cause Shepard to miss the Aztecs home opener against San Diego Christian along with games against Missouri State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  Shepard will still practice for the duration of his suspension.

You’ve got to respect San Diego State for self-reporting the incident instead of the NCAA finding this out later down the road.

After losing to Syracuse, the suspension of Shepard only makes the start of this season worse for the Aztecs.  It is crucial for freshman to get game experience in the preseason before conference starts, so Shepard will have some catching up to do after sitting three games out.

Shepard provides them with athleticism and size, something San Diego State is in desperate need of.  He has potential to hugely impact the success of the team, but unfortunately that will have to wait.

With the suspension coming early in the season, hopefully it won’t impact the Aztecs terribly, but it’s never good to lose important players at any time during the season. Shepard has hopefully learned his lesson.