TJ Gadsden graduates St. Andrew’s early

In the light of the pandemic currently going on, we have seen a number of high school prospects graduate high school early and enroll into college earlier than expected. The latest local prospect to do this is 2021 TJ Gadsden TJ Gadsden 6'6" | PF St. Andrew's | 2021 MD of St. Andrew’s who will be enrolling into George Mason on Monday.

Gadsden is a 6’7 forward that has a ton of versatility to his game that should help him excel well at George Mason. Gadsden was built with great length that allows him to do a lot of things on both sides of the ball. Over the past year after he transferred to St. Andrew’s where his stock immediately rose after a lot of improvement was noticed including his vocal leadership, engagement throughout the game and offensive/defensive versatility. Part of that was because of the development by St. Andrew’s head coach, Kevin Jones. Gadsden mentioned how the move to St. Andrew’s benefited him.

"I’m extremely lucky to have the opportunity to graduate early and enroll at George Mason University this semester.  I’d like to thank St. Andrew’s for allowing me the opportunity to graduate early.  In addition to having to put in a lot of work myself, others had to sacrifice their time in order for me to achieve this and I am grateful to them.  St. Andrew’s is a wonderful place and I’m happy to be a graduate, something that no one can take from me.  Without St. Andrew’s I am not the student or basketball player that I am today.  I’m excited to start taking classes and working with my new teammates and coaches at George Mason"

We were able to speak with Kevin Jones about the decision to graduate high school early.

"I am glad that this was able to work out for TJ.  It speaks volumes to how our school is willing to work with our scholar athletes.  I think that it is easy to look at the athletic benefits of Tj graduating early and the opportunities he will have to practice with his team this year on the court.  And to work with his coaches on the floor and in the weight room.  But I think what is most unique is Tj being able to get ahead academically without losing any athletic eligibility.  I’m thankful to Tj and his family for their commitment to St. Andrew’s. I’m excited to watch his continued growth at George Mason University on and off the floor."

George Mason head coach, Dave Paulsen, and his staff are super excited about the addition of Gadsden.

“We are really excited about TJ joining us this year. He is a very talented and versatile player who we believe can help us in a variety of ways. His size and athleticism will allow him to guard multiple positions and his ability to shoot the ball from deep is a nice complement to his presence around the rim.”

There are always so many benefits of having a player enroll early and Paulsen spoke on the value of getting Gadsden on campus a little ahead of schedule.

“By enrolling this spring, TJ will have the opportunity to adjust to the pace and physicality of the college game while becoming familiar with our system. He is a first class individual and we are confident he’ll be a great addition to our program.”

Before Gadsden decided to enroll into college early, he was currently ranked number 22 overall in the class of 2021 MD/DC rankings while being slated as the number one power forward. Gadsden has the size and athleticism to be a promising two way player in the Atlantic 10 given his size and athleticism and the improvement of his ability to score the ball offensively in a variety of ways.