[1/29/04]Vicksburg High senior Rory Johnson has transferred to a Louisiana school, saying he wants to graduate on time and become eligible to play college football.

“They won’t let me take some classes,” said Johnson, who along with Gator teammate A.J. Hicks transferred to Tallulah’s McCall High, about 25 miles west of Vicksburg.

“They won’t let me take an English that I really need,” Johnson said about rules of the Vicksburg Warren School District.

His father declined comment beyond saying it was his decision.

Vicksburg High football coach Alonzo Stevens said he received drop slips on Monday for both Johnson and Hicks indicating they were no longer enrolled at VHS.

“What I understand is it’s toward graduation, trying to graduate on time,” Stevens said. “The way (McCall) is set up, he can have everything that he needs to graduate on time. The way ours is set up, he couldn’t do that here.”

Stevens concedes the school change has bothered him.

“It has an effect that he’s one of your students, a Vicksburg Gator all the way through,” he said. “I’ll just miss his face, miss his smile. Now he’s just trying to get ready to graduate and move on in life.”

Hicks was not believed to be under consideration for a major athletic scholarship.

Johnson said he is leaning toward one of the state’s Big 3 Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss but still has a recruiting visit to Nebraska planned this weekend.

“I’m starting to narrow it down a little bit now. It’s mostly all the Mississippi schools,” Johnson said. The speedy linebacker recorded 85 tackles and three sacks last season. He’s a two-year all-county player and is among the nation’s top-rated linebackers by recruiting services.

National Signing Day, the first official day high school football recruits can declare what school they will attend, is Feb. 4.

Due to an earlier grade, Johnson was not eligible for a required core class, English IV, during the spring semester at Vicksburg High.

Johnson would be eligible to take the class in summer school, but that would conflict with accepting an athletic scholarship.

“As soon as your class graduates, you can do no more course work to your core GPA,” said Ole Miss coordinator of football operations Walker Jones.

An alternative for Johnson to graduate is taking the class by correspondence.

“Any student enrolled in a correspondence course with the intent of meeting graduation requirements during the regular school session must complete all course work and examinations by April 15,” the Vicksburg Warren School District Secondary Student handbook states. “…English or Math may not be taken through correspondence work, unless it is the remaining unit required for graduation and approved by the principal.”

The handbook also states that the correspondence courses must be approved by universities, and “the NCAA does not recognize correspondence courses in determining athletic eligibility beyond high school.”

McCall Assistant Principal Claude Tate said as long as a student is eligible for high school between the ages of 14 and 19 he or she can commute to school.

Donald Frazier, superintendent of child welfare for the Madison Parish School District, said there is a residency requirement that the school district does its best to enforce.