DURHAM — By Jack Daly

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Thursday that Andre Dawkins will redshirt this season to work through grief associated with the 2009 death of his sister.

“It’s time for him to step away, and it’s the right thing,” Krzyzewski said, adding he wasn’t sure whether Dawkins would practice with the team.

Krzyzewski previously said Dawkins and the coaching staff would decide this fall whether Dawkins would play in 2012-13.

Lacey Dawkins died in a car accident on Dec. 5, 2009, while driving to watch her brother play against St. John’s. She had never seen her brother play in college.

The news that Dawkins will redshirt next year caught Dawkins’ father off guard.

“I didn’t know anything was finalized,” the elder Andre Dawkins said. “They had talked about doing that, but I didn’t hear anything from Coach or anything like that.”

Andre Dawkins talked with his son on Father’s Day and said that Dawkins is doing well.

Dawkins is on track graduate next May. His father thinks his son will eventually resume his playing career.

“From talking to him, he wants to play out his final year at Duke,” Dawkins’ father said. “So unless something happens outside of our control, that’s what he wants to do – I know that. That’s where his head is.”