April 17, 2008

THIBODAUX, La. - Head coach J.P. Piper announced the signing of three prep standouts on Thursday afternoon to National Letters of Intent.

"We are real excited about this class of signees, and feel like they can really make an impact in our program," said Piper.

Of the signees, two hail from Texas and one from Australia. The two Texas standouts are Chris Iles of Alief Hastings High School in Houston, Texas and Kyle Ford of Whitehouse High School in Whitehouse, Texas. The newest Australian to the mix is Cameron McCallum from Mowbray College in West Melton, Australia.

Iles, a 5'10" guard, helped lead Westbury Christian to back-to-back TAPPS State Championships in 2005 and 2006. The Houston, Texas native transferred to Alief Hastings in 2007 and was named First Team All-District his junior and senior season while also picking up First Team All-Region recognition in 2008. He averaged 13.0 points and 5.0 assists per game his senior season while playing for head coach Darrell Collins.

Ford, a 6'5" guard/forward, led Whitehouse to a 29-2 record this past season that included a 14-0 mark in district play. Ford, who made 83 three-pointers last season, averaged 13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game during the 2007-08 campaign that saw Whitehouse make it all the way to the state regional semi-finals in the playoffs before losing to the eventual Texas 4A state champion. He was an All-District, All-Region and All-State player as selected by the TABC his senior season while playing for head coach Wally Dawkins.

McCallum, a 6'8" forward, prepped at Mowbray College and is current playing for Diamond Valley. The West Melton, AUS native is averaging 19.5 points and 14.0 rebounds this season, and, like Isles and Ford, brings a strong winning back round to Nicholls having been a prominent member of the Victorian State Under 20 squad that claimed the 2008 Australian National Championship under head coach Scott Christiansen. Also, McCallum was a member of the 2007 Melbourne Tigers 2007 Youth League Champions.

####