After traveling upwards of 2,700 miles to play basketball, what's another 147 miles to play somewhere else?

(Fairfield, Cal.) Rodriguez High School graduate Franky Johnson will be attending Virginia Union University on scholarship, leaving behind Coppin State University of Baltimore, Maryland.

It has been a long road to get to this point for Johnson, as he's attended Edmonds Community College in Washington (2011-2012), San Jose City College (2012-2013), Coppin State University (2013-2014), and now Virginia Union.

 "The campus was beautiful," Johnson said. "There were brand new dorms that didn't  even open until August, and everyone was friendly with good southern hospitality."

Besides the campus, Johnson is excited to play for Tony Sheals, the head coach for the Panthers. Johnson said he talked to the coach about 3-to-4 times a day before he reported and liked that Sheals wants to see him graduate as much as he wants to see him succeed on the hardwood.

Sheals has an interesting past as he was once the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of Miami in 2001-2002 and was an assistant coach at Florida State University from 2002-06, among other places.

The Panthers were 6-20 this past season but eight of those games were decided by seven points or less – three of which went to overtime.

Johnson brings scoring to Virginia Union, which would help in those close games.  Johnson averaged 18.2 points per game his junior season at Vanden and 12.9 points per game his senior year at Rodriguez.

Johnson said that Virginia Union , completely rebuilding the program, brings in 10 new players, including himself. He said it will be a good fit for him.

"I'm super excited and can't wait to play," Johnson said. He added that his goal was to make it to the NCAA Tournament and at least the Final Four.

The last time Virginia Union made it to the Division II Final Four was 2006, and won it all in 2005.