2023 OL/DL AJ Salley Excited To Camp At Notre Dame

AJ Salley‍ has been waiting quite a while to make college visits and the 2023 Ohio offensive lineman/defensive lineman won’t be easing into anything.

The Miamisburg High School standout will kick off his college tours by participating at Notre Dame’s Irish Invasion Camp on June 6th.

“I can't wait,” the 6-foot-5, 235-pounder told Irish Sports Daily.

“I'm just excited to see the facilities and everything, most importantly, talk to some of these coaches that have been recruiting me along the way. I really haven't had that opportunity yet. As a sophomore, I'm really not even allowed to really talk to coaches that, so I've really had little to no contact with anyone and I'm just really excited.”

The invitation came via Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who was familiar with Salley from his previous stop.

“He had a little bit of communication with me when he used to be at Cincinnati before he went to Notre Dame,” Salley said of Freeman. “I've known him for a little bit and once he got over to Notre Dame, he hit me up and said, 'Basically, we just want to get you down here not only just a camp, but to get down there and see some facilities and talk to the coaches and everything.'

“It's going to be a really cool thing. I'm very excited to get up there and see the coaching staff. It's going to be my first visit since...ever really with this dead period.”

Salley’s early offer sheet includes schools like Cincinnati, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Iowa State and Oregon among others.

His interest in the Irish is legit.

“First off, it's really close to home,” Salley said of Notre Dame. “It's right over in Indiana. It just intrigues me. I know they're a really good academic school and they're definitely building something good there.”

He’s hoping to catch the eyes of the coaching staff with his versatility and put himself in position to land an offer at some point.

“Hopefully I could earn an offer, show them that I'm not just an offensive lineman,” he said. “I play both sides of the ball and I'm getting recruited for both. Hopefully, I can separate myself from other offensive linemen there, show them I can move. I like to think that I can move pretty well for my size and just impress the coaching staff.”

Pittsburgh is recruiting Salley as a defensive lineman while he said most other schools are recruiting him as an athlete with the ability to play on either side.

“I'm really not sure what I want to do in college yet,” he said.

He does know what he’s looking for in a college program though.

“It's just going to come down to whatever coaching staff builds the best relationship with me. Obviously, there are other factors going into it. I think I want to stay close to home around Ohio, not specifically in Ohio. But I'm not really sure yet. I definitely want to go where I feel most wanted.”