There were no hat games on Wednesday for Ricky Seals-Jones. No baby animals. No girlfriend revealing a shirt with the school of his choice. When the 6-5, 220-pounder made the decision to commit to Texas, he simply made the phone call to head coach Mack Brown with his family and then notified the assembled media that he had committed to the Longhorns.
It was hardly a shocking decision, as Texas appeared to have a significant lead for RSJ for some time, despite offers from around the country. The do-everything player for his high school is now the sixth commit for the Longhorns in the 2013 class, joining friend Tyrone Swoopes, the Whitewright quarterback who committed last Friday.
It's already an extremely strong offensive class for Texas, which now has a quarterback in Swoopes, a running back in Arlington Martin's Kyle Hicks, another wide receiver in Dallas Jesuit's Jake Oliver, and two potential offensive linemen in Celina's Jake Raulerson and Fort Worth Arlington Heights' A'Shawn Robinson. All that without receiving a single commitment on the first Junior Day.
Recruiting momentum unlocked.
[Update]: Despite some noise from RS-J on Tuesday night that he might not be ready to make his decision, it appears the announcement will go down at Sealy High School around 1:30 pm CST. All signs point to the Longhorns being the choice. Not sure if any sites are going to livestream the announcement. Use this as your open thread. --Wescott--
With the final minutes of Sunday ticking away, it appears that the Longhorns will break the streak of four consecutive days with a commitment in the 2013 class, but if there is a dry spell in the coming days, it may not last long. Family members of Ricky Seals-Jones, the Sealy wide receiver/tight end, notified the services on Sunday that the 6-5, 220-pound high school football and basketball star will make his college decision public in a ceremony at his high school just after 1 pm CST on Wednesday.
Given the Friday pledge of his friend Tyrone Swoopes, the highly-regarded Whitewright quarterback, and abundant message board rumors that RSJ had in fact notified the Longhorn coaching staff on Saturday evening of his commitment to Texas, the 'Horns appear to be in the pole position in his recruitment, with the LSU Tigers the only serious threat.
Basically, there's no new movement on this one -- if RSJ doesn't end up throwing his horns up with a Texas hat on his head on Wednesday afternoon, it would be an incredibly shocking upset, especially since the word is that his family would prefer him to stay in state and don the burnt orange in college.
[Update]: Some new names on the list and some notable recruits have been moved to the "Will Not Attend" list. --Wescott--
In the past, the second Texas Junior Day was a small affair, generally hosting only a handful of prospects who either couldn't make the first Junior Day, had fallen through the cracks for whatever reason, or had been placed on the backburner by the Longhorn coaching staff.
Typically, the list of attendees was much more fluid as well, with players who didn't expect to receive an offer -- or had been told they wouldn't by coaches -- opting to stay home or attend other events instead of coming to Austin and leaving without an invitation to play football on scholarship for Texas.
Perhaps as a result of the new emphasis on building relationships with players throughout the process to allow the staff to circle back later in the process if other scholarships become available, or just an overall change in philosophy, the number of players invited and expected to attend is much higher than it has been in previous years.
It seems like a smart decision by the staff, both in terms of putting Texas in a position to extend offers and receive commitments during or after the senior seasons for these players, and also because the second Junior Day provides an opportunity for all of those in attendance to watch the 'Horns go through a spring practice, the type of viewing that helped convince Austin High WR Cayleb Jones to pledge to Texas a year ago.
As always, this is a fluid list that will be updated throughout the week if any new names emerge or if prospects opt not to attend.
Just two weeks ago, Arlington Martin running back Kyle Hicks wasn't even really on the Texas radar, even though he was coming off a productive junior campaign after making the move to running back following his sophomore season. At the first Texas Junior Day, he received his Texas offer and nearly committed, but opted to hold off until Hookem.com broke the news of his commitment on Saturday.
A lifelong Texas fan, Hicks ended his burgeoning recruitment despite increasing national attention (recent offers from Arkansas, Michigan, and Notre Dame), becoming the fifth commitment in the 2013 Longhorn class and the fourth in four days, helping to consolidate the recruiting momentum established by pledges from Dallas Jesuit wide receiver Jake Oliver, Fort Worth Arlington Heights offensive lineman/defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson, and Whitewright quarterback Tyrone Swoopes.
In the overall narrative, it's been known since the commitment of Aledo star Johnathan Gray last spring that recruiting would become difficult at the running back position due to the depth on campus. Florida native Keith Ford of Cypress Ranch is the top running back in the state and Pearland Dawson back James White has Texas connections with former teammate Kennedy Estelle set to enroll in the summer, but running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator Major Applewhite zeroed in on Hicks recently and continued his stellar run on the recruiting trail by quickly securing his commitment.
It was the great debate for the 2013 Texas recruiting class -- Whitewright QB Tyrone Swoopes or Wichita Falls Rider QB JT Barrett? Or even Colleyville Heritage QB Cody Thomas, who emerged later on the radar than the other two, but has had his stock explode quickly throughout the month of February.
That debate now appears to be moot, as multiple sites are reporting on Friday morning that Swoopes has committed to Texas, giving the Longhorns the possible franchise quarterback they thought they had years ago when Garrett Gilbert committed and the most physically gifted since landing Vince Young in 2002. With the commitment, the Texas coaches also avoided the potentially difficult decision of whether to wait for Swoopes or to go ahead and offer Barrett or Thomas at JD2.
Though Swoopes was apparently rather shy on his first Junior Day visit to Austin (and how endearing is that for a star quarterback?), the staff is now going to ask him to take a leadership role on the offensive side of the ball. His first call could very well be to close friend Ricky Seals-Jones, the Sealy WR/TE whose commitment has seemed imminent for days, but could have simply been waiting for Swoopes to pull the trigger first.
[Update]: Horns Nation writer William Wilkerson just tweeted that Robinson told him Texas wants him as a defensive tackle. Could have implications for Justin Manning. --Wescott--
Momentum is a fickle thing in recruiting. Just days ago, some corners of the Longhorns interwebs were shaken by the lack of a single pledge on the first Junior Day, but after Hookem.com once again broke the news of another commitment, the second in two days, Texas now appears to be rolling with the 2013 class. Fort Worth Arlington Heights OL A'Shawn Robinson joins Dallas Jesuit WR Jake Oliver and Celina OL/DL Jake Raulerson as the 2013 commits for Texas.
Of the three offensive linemen who received offers at JD1, Robinson was considered the least likely to make an early pledge, as he said that he wasn't planning on making a quick decision and then went off the radar following the visit, choosing not to do any in-depth interviews. In fact, Robinson wasn't even ranked among the top five most likely to become the second commit.
Perhaps those lack of interviews were a sign he was close to ending the process, as Robinson surprised the Texas recruiting world with his Thursday commitment.
Coming off the first Junior Day weekend that failed to produce a single commitment in the 2013 class to join Celina OL/DL Jake Raulerson, the Longhorns finally added the much-anticipated second commit on Wednesday morning when Dallas Jesuit WR Jake Oliver gave his pledge ($) to the Texas coaching staff, as reported by Hookem.com.
In recent days, it sounded like Oliver could be close to a decision, as he indicated to the services that he was planning to sit down and speak with his father about the recruiting process, which has now come to a head with Oliver holding nearly 50 offers from programs around the country.
Texas had surged into the lead amid rumors that the family didn't care for the handling of former coach Mike Sherman's firing, which may have been a significant factor in swinging the pendulum in favor of Texas only months after it seemed like the A&M legacy was a heavy Aggie lean.
But Oliver maintained throughout the process that he was open to other schools and proved that to be the case with his commitment.
The family detailed how the process went down in a press release ($) to Hookem.com:
The first Junior Day over the weekend failed to produce any commitments, in stark contrast to the past, but that may simply be a part of the changing narrative as the new staff makes changes to approach in recruiting and also a result of the smaller 2013 class that has led to fewer offers going out early.
Of course, the question on the minds of Texas fans perhaps still a little shocked by the new reality of so many recruitments stretching past JD1 is who will join Celina OL/DL Jake Raulerson in the fledgling 2013 class and when those commitments will go down.
Here's a look at the prospects most likely to make a decision in favor of the Longhorns in the near future:
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