BATON ROUGE — The 19th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team signed its second highly touted prospect of the 2003 spring signing period on Friday as the Tiger coaching staff received a letter of intent from Georgia native Colt Gaston.
“Colt is just a tremendous athlete with a great feel for the game,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “He has great hands and very competitive instincts and we’re extremely glad that he chose to play for us over Georgia and the three or four schools that were recruiting him to play basketball. His addition to next year’s team will definitely be an added bonus for years to come.”
Gaston, a native of Rome, Ga., has been the No. 1-ranked singles player in the state since he was competing on the 12-year-old level and was ranked as high as 12th in the nation at the age of 16. In doubles play, Gaston was ranked fifth in the nation and reached the semifinal round of play at the national championship tournament.
Throughout his productive junior career, Gaston has earned four Georgia state doubles championships, has won both the Southern Region singles and doubles titles and has played on the Davis Cup team since he was 12. He has played in two main draw satellites and one future main draw competition in high school.
At 6-5, Gaston played basketball in high school and averaged 17 points per game. In only his first season of high school competition, Gaston shot 56 percent from three-point range and dropped 89 percent of his free throws.
The two-sport star was nominated to play in the McDonald’s Charity All-Star game and was heavily recruited by four colleges last season.