Arnold's Hicks shopping for new college program

After weeks of waiting, former Arnold standout Nate Hicks received his full release from a scholarship to play basketball at Tulane University on Thursday.

Hicks didn’t waste time looking for a new school. He is spending the weekend on an official visit to Georgia Tech.

The 6-foot-11 center, who signed with Tulane in November, considered asking for a release from his scholarship after Tulane fired head coach Dave Dickerson and hired Ed Conroy in March. However, he waited until last month to request it. Tulane initially granted Hicks a conditional release, which allowed him to be recruited again, but also give him an option to return to Tulane

Auburn, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Florida State and Georgia Tech began recruiting him, Hicks said, but couldn’t offer him a scholarship because he wasn’t officially released. Then the NCAA approved his full release last week, which allowed Hicks to transfer without sitting out a season.

By Thursday, Hicks had narrowed his choices to Georgia Tech and FSU.

“The dream of mine was to play in the ACC,” Hicks said. “With Georgia Tech and Florida State both being pretty close by we narrowed it down to those two.”

Hicks, who averaged 16 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks as a senior at Arnold, has been on three unofficial visits to FSU. He said the Seminoles haven’t offered him a scholarship yet because they’re deciding between him and another center.

Even before Hicks took his visit to Georgia Tech, he was leaning toward the Yellow Jackets, who have offered him a scholarship. Hicks said Friday he expects to make a decision in a few days.

“I’m not really fond of the idea of taking a back seat, so that’s why right now I say I really like the idea of Georgia Tech,” Hicks said. “I really love Georgia Tech and I don’t think it’s a bad option for me.”

Tulane lost all three of its November signees after Dickerson was fired.

Hicks met with Conroy just once after Conroy was hired, and thought he could land at a better program

“We were pretty relieved,” Hicks said. “We didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. They certainly could have held me out a year of competition.

“We definitely didn’t want that to happen. We really rejoiced as a family when we found out we got it.”