By Myra Bean

What the football world was waiting to hear finally happened. Last week, South Panola star running back Darius “Tig” Barksdale signed to play with Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan., according to Butler coach Troy Morrell.

Also signing to play at Butler were linebackers Josh Shipp and Justin Carothers.

Barksdale had originally verbally committed to sign with Ole Miss, but on the national day of signing, he did not sign with anyone. He cited the need to get his grades up.

According to Clarion-Ledger reports, Barksdale has not yet met NCAA freshman academic qualifying standards.

On the national day of signing, Shipp originally signed to play at Mississippi Valley State. Carothers did not sign with anyone on the national day of signing.

Butler was one of the two schools which shared the national junior college championship last year with a 12-0 record. The other school was Mississippi Gulf Coast.

These three helped lead the South Panola Tigers to their fifth straight state championship and a 75-0 undefeated record.