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Published August 02, 2012, 07:28 AM

Combat vet cleared to join Clemson

Daniel Rodriguez is about to fulfill a dream, and more importantly to him, keep a promise to a brother-in-arms. Rodriguez found out this week he had been cleared by the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference to join Clemson’s football team as a walk-on receiver.

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Daniel Rodriguez is about to fulfill a dream, and more importantly to him, keep a promise to a brother-in-arms.

Rodriguez found out this week he had been cleared by the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference to join Clemson’s football team as a walk-on receiver.

Rodriguez played football at Brooke Point High in Stafford, Va., but acknowledged he let his parents’ divorce and problems at school get the better of him. When his father Ray, died four days after graduation, Rodriguez was devastated and seeking a way out. He chose the Army.

Rodriguez served in Iraq during the troop surge of 2007. On his second tour, he found himself in Afghanistan and in the line of fire during one of the war’s bloodiest fights, the battle of Kamdesh in October 2009.

Rodriguez was awarded the Bronze Star Medal of Valor. He also received a Purple Heart and was promoted to staff sergeant before an honorable discharge in 2010.

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