One of the state’s better football players can’t suit up for his team’s opening game Friday night because the GHSA has not approved his eligibility.

Bo Walker, a running back committed to Georgia, transferred to Stockbridge from Cedar Grove in February. Stockbridge’s new coach, Kendrick Callier, was Cedar Grove’s offensive coordinator last season, when Walker rushed for 1,579 yards and 29 touchdowns on Cedar Grove’s Class 3A championship team.

GHSA rules don’t allow athletes who follow a coach to a new school to participate in athletics for one year, so Walker won’t play for Stockbridge, Class 4A’s No. 2 team, in Friday night’s game at Dutchtown. His final appeal is next week.

Walker enrolled at Stockbridge before the school announced Callier as its coach in late March, Callier said, but Walker failed to win an appeal.

GHSA bylaw 1.72 reads in part: “A student athlete transferring ... shall be ruled ineligible for one year if ... the player who played for a coach at one school ... followed that coach when he/she moved to a GHSA school.”

The GHSA considers following a coach evidence of undue influence to persuade an athlete to transfer.

Stockbridge lost a hardship appeal for Walker on Aug. 8. Stockbridge can appeal again Tuesday. Callier said that will be Walker’s last chance to win his eligibility. Final appeals go before the GHSA’s board of trustees.

“Everybody thinks he moved because of me, but that’s not the truth,” Callier said. “It’s a true family issue. He came to help out his great-granddad. His great-granddaddy is sick, and his great-grandmother is too old to help, and that’s the reason.”

The GHSA does not comment on ongoing appeals cases.

Walker is a senior and practiced with the team during the summer but has not since padded practice began this month, Callier said.

If Walker fails to become eligible, he would be the second Georgia-committed player in recent years that the GHSA has ruled ineligible for his senior season.

In August 2021, Georgia sophomore linebacker Gabe Harris was not allowed to play for Valdosta after transferring from Thomas County Central, though his situation was different than Walker’s. The GHSA ruled that Harris did not move legally into the Valdosta school district, which is a requirement for immediate eligibility. Harris then played his senior season at IMG Academy in Florida.

GHSA rules also don’t allow students ruled ineligible at one GHSA school to become eligible at another except through appeal. Callier said Walker had no immediate plans to transfer again.

“He’s so positive that it’s like he doesn’t want to think about that stuff,” Callier said. “He doesn’t like when I bring up Plan B. He feels everything will go his way.”