University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball signee Joshu'a Warren will play down Amnicola Highway from McKenzie Arena at Chattanooga State for the 2012-13 season.
Warren failed to get through the NCAA clearinghouse to become eligible to play for UTC.
Warren has earned 18 hours of college credits after playing last year at Fishburne Military School and attending a summer class at UTC.
"I think it was one class that kept him from being able to attend UTC," Chattanooga State coach Jay Price said. "We talked to Coach [John] Shulman and got his blessing to try and get Josh graduated in a year. He's transferring here with quite a few quality credits."
Warren is a 6-foot-7, 240-pound power forward who would have been the seventh post player on UTC's roster.
"After summer school and trying to get him cleared, he ran into an eligibility-center issue," Shulman said. "The issue prevented him from gaining qualifier status. Now he becomes a prospective student-athlete, which prevents me from talking about him."
Even before the issue with Warren, who prepped at Marietta (Ga.) High School, Shulman entered the fall season with one scholarship available to offer. He granted it to redshirt junior Sam Watson, who missed the 2011-12 season due to a shoulder injury that required the removal of a rib.
But now Shulman will begin the 2012-13 season with 12 scholarship players, including two who began their careers as walk-ons: Watson and injured senior point guard Dontay Hampton.
"It's always nice to reward kids for their work and loyalty," Shulman said. "As a freshman [Watson] started for us and gave us stability and had a good sophomore year until he got hurt. Then he went through an awful lot to get back on the floor."
Warren joins a list of UTC signees who have not been able to join the Mocs in recent years: Manny Ochenje played for Pepperdine, Xavian Rimmer played for Alcorn State and Philip Jurick played for Oklahoma State.
But Warren landed with Price and the Tigers, and Shulman and his staff have a head start on his recruitment.
"Josh is totally committed to the Mocs," Price said. "He really loves those guys, the staff and players. The first thing he told me when we sat down was, 'I'm loyal to them and committed to them. If they'll have me back, that's where I'm going.'"