In just over a year of high school basketball, St. Francis swingman Kaiser Gates has established himself as one of the best players in north Fulton and a budding star in the state.

At 6-foot-7 the Knights’ sophomore can play inside and out, he is the team’s best rebounder in the paint and routinely draws the task of checking their opponent’s best player on defense.

But the scariest thing about Gates, according to his coach, is that he is just starting to come into his own.

“He is only scratching the surface,” said St. Francis coach Cabral Huff of Gates, who has already drawn scholarship offers from Auburn, Georgia and Georgia Southern.

“He is a forward that can handle, shoot from the outside, and is starting to develop a back-to-the-basket game as he continues to grow.”

After averaging 10 points and eight rebounds as a freshman at St. Francis, Gates has taken his game to the next level through the early portion of this season.

Kaiser dropped 31 points and pulled down 10 rebounds against Class AAAAAA Archer in November, had 17 and 10 against perennial state power Whitefield Academy in a region win and is shooting 88 percent from the free throw line this season.

“He really expanded his game in the offseason and is only getting better, the sky is the limit for him as a player,” said Huff.