NATCHEZ &8212; Prior to the tip-off of Natchez High&8217;s home opener against Wilkinson County, the phone rang.

It was Rodney Gray.

No longer a member of the Bulldogs&8217; team and no longer living in Natchez, the standout three-sport athlete wanted to check in with his old friends while in his new home in the Delta to pass along two things.

Good luck, and he wished he was there.

It&8217;s been a different start to the season for the Bulldogs, who for the first time in three seasons don&8217;t have Gray to kick it out to down the floor on a fast break or battle inside for a rebound or a putback. But they still have plenty of talent, and they&8217;ve spent the first two weeks of the season trying to lead a life without Rodney.

&8220;Hopefully they can make it to the Big House,&8221; said Gray, who moved to South Panola to live with his mother. &8220;That&8217;s been a goal since we&8217;ve been in high school to make it back to state. I&8217;m really pulling for them. They want that real bad. They can do it. I just wish I wouldn&8217;t have moved.&8221;

It&8217;s been a different season in basketball and quite possibly athletics entirely at NHS without Gray this school year. He was tabbed as one of the state&8217;s top prospects at receiver in football back in August, and he had visions of defending his state championship in the 110 hurdles in track after winning last year in 14.83 seconds.

Gray, who lived in the Batesville area up until sixth grade when he moved to Natchez, hated to make the move back. And the basketball team surely hated to see him go, but they&8217;re having to move on without him.

But they still find time to talk over the phone.

&8220;It&8217;s a lot different &8212; a big difference without him,&8221; senior Jeremy Houston said. &8220;We&8217;re tight and have been since middle school. With him, we would get a lot of layups in transition. You see him running the floor, and I was running right along with him. I pretty much knew what he could do, and he knew what I could do.

&8220;I talk to him about every two weeks or every week. He said football is all right, but he wants to play basketball and run track.&8221;

Gray has made the best of the move to South Panola, where he&8217;s a receiver on the powerhouse football team that&8217;s the odds-on favorite to win the Class 5A state title again. It&8217;s not as if the run-dominant Tigers needed another weapon on offense, but he&8217;s adapted to his new school and surrounding well since moving just prior to the start of the school year.

&8220;It was the worst thing I could have done,&8221; he said. &8220;I still haven&8217;t gotten over it, but I will one day. I know Jeremy and Kenny Robinson hated it the most. They&8217;re still trying to get me back to play basketball. I was talking to (head football) Coach (Lance) Reed every other day and every Friday. I was trying to keep in touch like I was still there.&8221;That&8217;s been the hard part for the Bulldogs, although their 3-3 mark so far on the season shows they&8217;re getting past it. The addition of 6-4 DeKeedrian Jackson and others from the football team who haven&8217;t been out in the past have helped.

Gray averaged a team-high 12 points a game last season and 9.3 rebounds a game. He and Houston also played in the state Junior All-Star Game over the summer.

&8220;We&8217;ve got to suck it up and play,&8221; senior C.J. Wright said. &8220;We can&8217;t be sad because Rodney is gone. We&8217;ve still got to be a team. It&8217;s all right. It&8217;s still the same. He was quick, fast and could shoot, but we&8217;ve got players out here that are going to contribute the same way.&8221;

Jackson has made an immediate impact since football ended, and the Bulldogs also welcomed speedy Jason Bruce and will feature 6-4 Calvin Hall as well. That&8217;s along with steady holdovers Houston and Michael Chatman from a season ago, two players who combined for nearly 21 points a game.

But it&8217;s Jackson who may fill the biggest void down low in his first season of varsity basketball.

&8220;We&8217;ve got five or six new,&8221; Chatman said. &8220;We&8217;ve got one coming in December who&8217;s 6-5. They&8217;ve been here all their high school careers, but they just decided to come out their senior year. I played with them in the eighth grade. I talked to them and said just come out &8212; they can get a scholarship if they play more than one sport.&8221;

Houston, however, may be the biggest beneficiary of Jackson&8217;s presence down low. It&8217;s allowed him to move out to small forward position where he can shoot more, something he&8217;ll have to get better at if he makes it to the next level.

Houston, a top 40 selection as a sophomore, averaged 11 points a game last season. He&8217;s gotten interest from Alcorn, Jackson State, Centenary and some jucos.

&8220;I think we&8217;re going to do well because there&8217;s not a lot of unselfishness &8212; everybody plays their role,&8221; Houston said. &8220;I get to go up to the perimeter and shoot and don&8217;t have to play with my back to the basket. If I can draw somebody shorter than me, I can go over the top and shoot.&8221;

If Houston can make it to the next level, he&8217;ll have one person in his corner. Gray is pulling for him and the Bulldogs to do something special, just as they are with him and South Panola&8217;s chances of making it to the state championship next week.

Between that and the phone calls, those are the best ways they&8217;ll stay connected.

&8220;I miss laughing with the basketball team,&8221; said Gray, who has drawn interest in football from several SEC schools. &8220;I miss the basketball team a lot. I really hope (Jeremy) makes it to the next level. He works hard on his outside game &8212; real hard &8212; ever since I was in high school. I hope it works out for the best.&8221;