Shawne Williams, a 6-foot-8, 200 pound versatile forward from Memphis, TN, has decided to leave his hometown and transferred to Laurinburg Prep (NC) in order to become academically qualified for college. We caught up with Chris Chaney, head coach of Laurinburg Prep, and got the update on Williams’ situation.

“He just wanted to get out of (Memphis) and work on getting qualified. Coming out here will help him do that,” Chaney said. “It will show him how tough he really is. This is a good thing for him.”

The No. 7 player on the Rivals150 has not played a game for his former school because of grades. The last time Williams played high school basketball was last season as a junior when he helped lead Hamilton to the state semifinals.

Williams will have a chance to play in the final eight games for Laurinburg Prep (24-6). Chaney said he is still trying to gauge where Williams fits into the talented rotation.

“It’s his first day here so I haven’t really seen him play too much but he’s a player,” Chaney said. “He’ll play some minutes for us at a lot of different players because he is such a good athlete. We’ll run him from the two to the three to the four but hopefully we’ll keep him at the two and three spots.”

Fellow Memphis recruit Richard Dorsey is also on the Laurinburg Prep roster.

We will have more from Williams later on Monday evening.