BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team received the signed national letters of intent Wednesday from two more players for the 2004-05 season and the signings continued the theme of players with local ties signing with the Tigers.
The Tigers received the papers of Spencer Ford of Baton Rouge, who prepped at Scotlandville High and is entering his second season at Dixie State College in Utah. The latest Tiger signee on Wednesday was Garrett Temple of University High in Baton Rouge who will come to LSU following in the footsteps of his father, Collis, who played at LSU in the 1970s and his older brother Collis III, who finished his LSU playing career last season.
Ford, 6-7, 210, averaged nine points and six rebounds a year ago for Dixie, the same junior college that sent LSU Jaime Lloreda, after being named first team Class 3A All-State as a junior at Scotlandville and second team as a senior. He averaged 20 points during his senior high school season, earning All-District 8-3A MVP and All-Metro honors.
“We are excited about Spencer Ford choosing LSU,” said LSU Coach John Brady. He gives us an extremely athletic forward player much like Ronald Dupree. Having been at Dixie College in St. George, Utah, where Jaime played, we know winning is very important to him. Spencer will bring experience, leadership and maturity to our team. We plan on using him in a couple of different positions. We are pleased Spencer will be a part of our team next year.”
Garrett Temple joins his teammate Glen Davis of U-High, who signed last week with LSU to become the first tandem from the same high school signed in the same signing period by the LSU men’s basketball team in at least the last 32 years, dating back through the Dale Brown and John Brady eras as head coach.
Temple, at 6-6, averaged 17 points and six assists a season ago for Coach Ari Fisher’s U-High Cubs, a team that won the state championship in 2002 and was a state semifinalist in 2003 with both Temple and Davis on the team. Temple has an assist to turnover ratio of over 2.5 to 1 in his U-High career.
“We are very pleased with the signing of Garrett Temple to a basketball scholarship at LSU. Our plan for Garrett right now is to play the point-guard position, but knowing his size and versatility, he can also be a very effective player for us in several different ways. He is an excellent passer, outstanding shooter and knows how to run a team. He also is from University High Lab School, where he has learned what winning is about.
“In addition, we are looking forward to continuing our relationship with the Temple family. They have been a big part of LSU and I am excited about having coached Collis (III) and look forward to working with Garrett.”
The Tigers open the 2003-04 men’s basketball season Friday night at the Maravich Assembly Center at 7 p.m. against Southern University. Tickets are on sale for $10 at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office.