2023 Massachusetts F TJ Power Talks Notre Dame Offer & More
TJ Power has been on Notre Dame’s radar for over a year now.
As of last week, the 2023 Massachusetts forward is official on the Irish’s recruiting board.
After discussions with Ryan Humphrey and Mike Brey, the Worcester Academy standout received an offer from Notre Dame last Monday.
“I've been talking with Coach Humphrey for a while, just texting him back and forth,” the 6-foot-9, 210-pounder told Irish Sports Daily. “I know Notre Dame had seen me play a few times. Coach Brey called me and left a voicemail. I had a baseball game and then I called him back (Monday) night and he extended the offer.
“He said they've been keeping an eye on me for a while and they really like my versatility and liked the production that I've had the past year and recently.”
Brey said he didn’t want to wait any longer to offer Power, who also has offers from schools like BC, UConn, Wake Forest, Oklahoma, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Xavier among several others.
“He felt inclined to speed the process up,” Power said of Brey. “He said they usually take it slow and that's why they don't roll out offers like a lot of schools might. They really want to make sure of who they're recruiting and make sure it's the right fit. He said he thinks it's a great fit.”
Humphrey made his way to Massachusetts on Tuesday to check in with Power in person.
“That was a great talk and it just set the stage for building the relationship more,” said Power. “I always enjoy talking to him.”
Power said he was “super excited” about the offer.
“Notre Dame is a school I've had my eye on for time now,” he said. “Because of the success they've had and playing in the ACC, which is a big-time conference, I think Notre Dame is a pinnacle of what you can achieve not only through school, but through basketball. It was a good moment for me and my family to hear that offer.”
Power almost made a trip to South Bend a couple years ago, but wasn’t able to because he games of his own. He should visit eventually.
“I want to get out there probably in the fall at some point,” he said. “Coach Brey was mentioning maybe to come to a football game. Hopefully, I can take those next steps and get to learn more about the campus and get out there as soon as I can.”
He’s already taken visits to Iowa, Virginia Tech and a host of New England schools like UConn, Providence, BC, Harvard and others.
“I might try to get out to Wake Forest at some point,” he added, “I'm just talking with some other schools, so we'll see how it builds up, but I definitely want to go and see more schools at some point, but Wake Forest is one I'm trying to set dates for.”
Power said schools are recruiting him to play wing or forward.
“I'm kind of versatile, so a lot of schools just said it's not really like a position thing,” he said. “It's just kind of playing basketball.”
A standout left-handed pitcher, Power is hoping to play baseball in college as well.
“That was something that Coach Brey talked about on the phone call too,” he said. “Seeing Pat Connaughton do it. He's a Massachusetts guy and he had great success doing that. There might not be a better place that knows what it takes to do both.”
Power knows what will be most important when he’s choosing a school.
“Just the fit and the playing style,” he said. “I'm going to have a lot of great options, but somewhere where I think I can be utilized and put in situations to succeed.
“And then my relationships with the coach too. I want to go somewhere where I have trust in the coaching staff and in my teammates and it's a good culture where everyone's pulling for each other and you can play with the ultimate confidence. That's probably the two main things.”
He doesn’t have a timeline for a decision.
“I'm keeping it open right now,” he said. “I think if I would make a decision, it would probably be before my high school season starts, like late-fall, beginning of winter, something along those lines.”
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