Recruting Report: TJ Collins (2018)
Last season, one of the absolute best performances came from Terry “TJ” Collins, a 6’2 guard from Bonnabel, in the state semi-finals. Last season, the Bruins were lead by a one-two punch of 6’7 Joseph Thompson (who is now at South Alabama) and TJ. In the state semi-final, they were matched up against district rival, Chalmette, who was lead by 5 star, 7 foot, recruiting conundrum Mitchell Robinson. The two teams had split the regular season match-ups, so they were now pitted in what essentially came down to a best of three series with a spot in the championship game on the line. Early in the game, Joseph Thompson picked up some quick fouls, and was forced for most of the game. When that happened, Bonnabel quickly got counted out of it. What I didn’t expect was for TJ Collins to absolutely take over the game, attacking Mitchell Robinson in the paint over and over, and more often than not, TJ came out on top. He finished with a game high 31 points, including 5 points in the final 32 seconds to give Bonnabel a 49-47 win. “I had to drop that many. Too many people were talking about him, and I wanted to show that I was as good, maybe even better than he is. I had a huge impact this year.”
He continued the momentum that he created last season, and continued it this summer, as he played for Louisiana Elite of the Under Armour Association. He was one of their leading contributors, as he was 2nd in minutes played, 3rd in points, and lead the team in steals on the defensive end. He did all of this while shooting over 40% from 3 on high volume attempts.
He is hoping that the great summer that he had will also help lead to another successful regular season as Bonnabel. “My role this year is going to be getting the younger players involved, and stepping up to be the team captain. We are going to struggle a bit with our height, but we are going to have a lot of energy, and get up and down the court in a hurry. We are going to create a lot of turnover. Going back to the final 4 for sure!” As long as they have TJ, Bonnabel definitely deserves to be in that discussion, especially considering the transfer of G Rodney Munson, a top 20 player in his own right for the 2019 class. “I’ve been working on my shooting, my handles, and also my court vision,” Collins says of his offseason workouts.
Collins says that this summer, his recruitment has really taken off, and that it has been going well. He says that he has been speaking the most with South Alabama, but also has offers from Houston, Southeastern, and Nicholls St. and has been talking with Murray St. lately as well. As of now, South Alabama might have the inside track, as Joseph Thompson is there currently. “Most likely” is how Collins responded when asked if South Alabama is the leader right now. TJ says that he is “looking for a team that is going to get me into the NBA Draft” as far as teams he is focusing on for the next level. He also says that he is aiming to have a commitment decision ready by mid-season.