Four-Star Guard Eric Gaines Caps Off LSU Basketball Signing Period, Seven Players Officially a Part of 2020 Class

LSU came into Wednesday's signing period with three players committed but not signed and by the end of the day, all three were officially Tigers. The final piece to the puzzle was four-star guard Eric Gaines, who joins the No. 6 recruiting class in the country according to 247Sports.

Gaines capped off the class that includes five-star guard Cam Thomas, four-star forward Mwani Wilkinson, three-star guard Jalen Cook, three-star big man Bradley Ezewiro, Georgetown transfer Josh Leblanc and UCLA transfer Shareef O'Neal.

"We are very excited about adding Eric Gaines who is a tremendous leader and plays with a great motor," coach Will Wade said. "He is an exceptional athlete with length who is an effortless scorer inside and outside, great passer and defends at a high level.”

After visiting the Tigers on Feb. 28, Gaines left so impressed with his visit that he committed to LSU the very next day. During his senior season at Lithonia High School in Georgia, Gaines averaged 18.6 points and four assists a contest.

"He’s a cool, cool dude, a cool coach," Gaines told 247Sports back when he first committed. "He's not like the other coaches. He’s more laid back, chill and he’s a great person. Me and him could connect. I just loved the effort they put in. They just made me feel like I was welcome."

While all of the previously committed players are signed, Wade did tell LSU Country in March that the Tigers would continue to be active in recruiting with the hope of landing one or two more players.

"We certainly want to continue to shape our roster, I just think it's going to push back the time that your roster is settled," Wade said. "I think it may be July now before you have a clean idea of exactly what everything's gonna look like. I mean there's just a lot of stuff that everybody's in the unknown and so we've just got to have as many irons in the fire as we can to figure it out."

Freshman forward Trendon Watford has decided to test the NBA waters though he'll keep his NCAA eligibility open by not hiring an agent should he not be pleased with where his draft stock is projected. Sophomores Javonte Smart, Darius Days and Emmitt Williams haven't yet decided if they'll return or not but if they do come back to school, the Tigers would have their deepest, most talented roster of the Wade era.