Two years later, Chris Stocks is returning home.
The Poplar Bluff alum recently signed to play basketball for Three Rivers College next season.
"It is kind of surreal. I'm really thankful for it. I think everything is kinda working out how it should," Stocks said.
Stocks scored more than 1,000 points in high school before going to New Hampton Prep in New Hampshire for a year. After suffering from foot pain that season, he found out while home during Thanksgiving that he had a broken left foot. Stocks sat out the rest of the season, signed with Austin Peay, and redshirted while waiting for his foot to heal.
Then Austin Peay head coach Dave Loos retired for health reasons after 27 years at the school.
Stocks wanted to play for a coach who recruited him, which Three Rivers did while he was still in high school.
"I really liked it at Austin Peay," Stocks said. "But I'm thankful for the opportunity to come back. (Three Rivers) Coach (Gene) Bess, he's a legend. He's the best."
A 6-foot, 2-inch guard, Stocks scored more than 22 points per game his senior season and shot about 47 percent beyond the 3-point line. Since high school, he's appeared in just five games.
"He's going to be a little rusty for a while, been out of the game for awhile. But I think he is competitive enough and skilled enough and determined enough right now that I think he is going to come into his own," Bess said. "I still remember when he was a sixth grader, him and one of his buddies would come in here and they had a routine down. I was interested in seeing somebody that focused at an early age."
Stocks is the second Mule to sign with Three Rivers this season, joining fellow 1,000-point scorer Willie Lucas, who was a sophomore when Stocks graduated.
"It's pretty cool. I grew up with Willie. Me and him were in the gym a lot of times throughout high school," Stocks said. "It is going to be fun to get back on the court with him, for sure."