LSU commit Elias Ricks, a five-star cornerback who won back-to-back National Championships with Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), is reportedly transferring high schools.
Ricks will be leaving the California powerhouse so he can fulfill graduation requirements and enroll at LSU a semester early, according to 247Sports.
By taking dual enrollment classes, Ricks is on track to graduate high school early. He told 247Sports he could have reclassified, but he would have had to take summer classes to finish requirements and wouldn’t have arrived to Baton Rouge until about two weeks before reporting day for the season.
“I didn’t want to be unprepared or go in without time to transition to college life,” he said to the outlet.
Business move 🤞🏾 https://t.co/JIWycZzhbg
— Ricks (@Eliasricks2020) April 27, 2019
Instead, he plans to graduate a semester early. But Mater Dei wouldn’t have accepted his dual enrollment credits and requires 270 credits instead of the usual 230. 247Sports noted that most of those extra classes are religious.
“My years worth of dual enrolled college credits would be wasted if I stayed at Mater Dei,” Ricks told 247Sports. “This was why I could not finish early there. I had to leave early if I wanted to be in college by spring of my senior year, which I knew I had to do in order to give myself the best opportunity to be ready to play college ball as a true freshman.”
The outlet did not specify which school Ricks would be transferring too.
Ricks is still registered at Mater Dei, according to the OCRegister.
LSU NEWS: Five-star WR Rakim Jarrett commits to Tigers
Losing Ricks will likely be a blow to the team. He finished last season with nine interceptions, including three pick-sixes in the semifinals game against Centennial (Corona, Calif.).
But Mater Dei’s ability to bring new talent aboard is noteworthy. Last offseason, the Monarchs lost their quarterback, top defensive player, top wide receiver and most of the starting offensive line and still ended the season at No. 1.
Head coach Bruce Rollinson will try to accomplish a similar feat over the next eight months.
