The framed photo sat on the table beside them, and Melinda Smart saw the emotion in her son's eyes.
"I thought he was going to cry because they had the picture of his father over there on the table," she said.
Ja'Vonte Smart, a Scotlandville senior, signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play college basketball for LSU starting in the 2018-19 season.
His decision to stay near home instead of choosing Kentucky or UCLA among the other schools that courted him came in part because he wanted to stay close to his support system, he said.