Irish Sports Daily

First, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey wanted to see the 6-foot-7 prospect in action.

The Irish head coach recently traveled north to assess Jesperson in person. Evidently, Brey liked what he saw.

“We just tried to develop a good relationship leading up to their visit now in July and I think we developed a pretty good relationship,” Jesperson said. “He came, watched my first game and they ended up offering, so I’m feeling good.”

Jesperson, who holds a number of offers from programs all over the country including ones from Arizona State, Butler, Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Northwestern and Virginia among others, always thought highly of the Irish program.

Now, the Irish scholarship offer solidifies his interest.

“I was pumped,” he said. “That’s a school that I’m definitely interested in. So when the word got back to me that they had offered, I was extremely excited, so that was good.”

Originally, Jesperson anticipated making a decision at some point in July. After a solid spring and summer, however, more programs are showing interest and a commitment no longer seems imminent.

“I’m not really sure right now,” Jesperson said. “There’s a lot of schools that are interested in me — some places that are likely going to offer like Michigan. I was trying to make a decision during the dead period, maybe, but I just don’t know if I’m going to be ready for it. We’ll see. I don’t know. I’m definitely interested in a lot of schools like Virginia. It’s going to be tough, but I just don’t know if I’ll be able to make a decision in the middle of July.”

Despite singling out a couple of programs that have caught his eye, the shooting guard has not yet crafted a list of favorites.

“No, I’m kind of sorting that stuff out right now,” Jesperson said. “I don’t have a top five yet.”

When Jesperson heard that Notre Dame’s coaches would be coming by to watch him play before offering, he focused on improving his play. Besides working with a personal trainer, Jesperson has been participating in team drills and attending camps as well.

“Summer workouts have been going great,” Jesperson said. “I’ve been going to the gym and getting stuff done and hitting the weight room hard. I’ve been trying to work out with Mike Lee as much as I can. He’s actually a trainer who works guys out. I’d like to get down to Milwaukee to work out more with him but it’s time consuming.

“Other than that, work outs are going great. My coach opens the gym and he’s great about opening the gym so it’s going well. I think I had a pretty good spring and it’s gotten me this attention from all these schools so in the summer I’ve been playing with my high school team and that’s been going pretty well. I went to the NBA Top 100 camp and that was a good experience so it’s been a lot of fun.”