With senior Albert Jackson exhausting his eligibility and the very real possibility of an early NBA exit by sophomore Howard Thompkins following the upcoming season, the need for depth in the Georgia frontcourt is evident.

It appears new head coach Mark Fox’s best chances to restock the talent pool lie with 6-foot-9, 215 pound power forward prospect Cady Lalanne, a rapidly improving big man out of Oak Ridge, Fla., who has seen his stock rise substantially following a couple of impressive performances on the summer AAU circuit.

Fox’s interest in Lalanne has been reciprocated as he rewarded the coach’s efforts by heading to Athens for one of his five official visits to check out what Georgia basketball has to offer.

“I really like it a lot,” Lalanne said of the program. “They have great facilities, and I like the coaching staff.”

As impressive as the new facilities were to Lalanne, it is the Bulldogs new head man that has the Florida native thinking that Georgia basketball is on the verge of something big.

“Coach Fox is really cool,” he said. “At the school he came from, they won a lot of games, so he’s going to change the program a lot I think.”

And it is one of those players at his former school that Fox has compared Lalanne to, telling him that he reminds him a lot of his former All-American at Nevada, Nick Fazekas, proving Fox’s success in developing versatile big men who like to play inside -out.

“I play inside-outside like a Rashard Lewis,” Lalanne said. “I’ll be someone that will score inside and outside, play defense, get rebounds, and I help the team a lot with the little things.”

With only one official visit still on his slate – a trip to Ole Miss this weekend – Lalanne has worked on narrowing down his options.

“I’ve narrowed it down to Georgia, VCU, Umass, and Ole Miss,” Lalanne said. Despite claiming no leader, he says it is the two mid-major programs – VCU and UMass – that are recruiting him the hardest at the moment.

With his final visit out of the way after this weekend, Lalanne will work on finalizing a decision, saying that he wants to decide sometime in November to allow him to spend time focusing on his high school team.

Until then, he will be working hard on his game, as well as his decision.

“I’m working hard on my ball-handling, speed, and putting some weight on,” he said.