Brent Leeland Vinson, 23, is awaiting extradition to Knoxville, where he faces charges of tampering with evidence and accessory to murder after the fact.

U.S. Marshals took Vinson into custody late Tuesday.

He is scheduled to remain in the Lauderdale County Detention Center until he is transferred to Knoxville.

Vinson was dismissed from the Tennessee team Dec. 17 as the Volunteers prepared for their Chick-fil-A Bowl game with Virginia Tech.

Chuck Reynolds, a supervisor at the U.S. Marshals office in Huntsville, said he was told Vinson came to Florence in January with plans of transferring to the University of North Alabama and play football. He was a defensive back for the Volunteers.

Vinson was living at 611 Cypress Mill Road, Apt. N-1, in Florence.

Reynolds said he was told Vinson arrived after the semester began so he could not enroll at UNA. Vinson planned to get a job and enroll in time to play football in the fall, Reynolds said.

Reynolds said his office was notified by U.S. Marshals in Tennessee that Vinson could be living in the Florence area.

"We started looking for him, found him and took him into custody," Reynolds said.

UNA Sports Information Director Jeff Hodges said NCAA rules forbid the university from discussing the status of any potential recruit. He confirmed, however, that Vinson is not a member of the football program and has not enrolled at the school.

According to a published report in the Newport News, Va., Daily Press, Vinson, of Hampton, Va., also was considering transferring to Bowie Street, which, like UNA, is a Division II school.

Police said Vinson was originally considered a witness to the May 20 shooting death of Charles Austin Corn, 23.

Corn, a University of Tennessee student from Hendersonville, Tenn., was repeatedly shot during a robbery inside his south Knoxville apartment, according to a report by the Knoxville News Sentinel. The report states that Corn was unable to talk to investigators and died five days after the shooting.

No one has been charged with shooting Corn, police said.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@TimesDaily.com.

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.

Obama has told the world he is a Christian, not a Muslim. We have his word on it. We even have the word of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on it. There has never been a religious test for any federal office, including the presidency. In fact, the candidate elected in 1908--a full century before Obama--was not a Christian. William Howard Taft was a fine president. But as a Unitarian, Taft rejected the Holy Trinity; he rejected the divinity of Jesus Christ.