Ricky Seals-Jones recruiting updates: A&M lands star athlete

Scout and Rivals rank Seals-Jones as the top receiver in the 2013 class. ESPN pegs him as No. 8. He also played at quarterback quite a bit in high school, often running the read option or speed option. Seals-Jones is left-handed, so odds are the Aggies use him on a wide receiver pass trick play at some point.

His big body also makes him a candidate to play tight end at some point, but he does have the athleticism to stick at wide receiver. He has the potential to rack up some big numbers in Kevin Sumlin’s fast-paced offense, and that likely played a part in his decision.

The Monday decision was not, however, his first pledge, as the do-everything player in high school had committed to Texas in February before opening up his recruitment in June. In September, the Longhorns opted to end their recruitment of Seals-Jones.

A consensus five-star prospect, Seals-Jones made three visits to the Texas A&M campus this fall, while only making it to Baton Rouge once. Given that discrepancy, his desire to play in a high-octane offense like the modified Airraid attack run by the Aggies, his relationship with Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel, and the burgeoning appeal of playing for the rising A&M program, RSJ’s decision on Monday morning was hardly a surprising one.

The recruitment of one of the top uncommitted players in the country will come to an end Monday morning ($) when 2013 Sealy (TX) athlete Ricky Seals-Jones has decided to end his recruitment in an announcement at his school at 10 am CST.

Let no one say Johnny Football fails to grasp the importance of recruiting.

Favorites: LSU, Texas A&M

The Skinny: Committed to Texas from February until June, Seals-Jones opened up his recruitment at that time before being rather inexplicably dropped by the Longhorns in the middle of September.

LSU will be trying to pull the upset of No. 1 Alabama this weekend in Baton Rogue. The electric crowd of Tiger Stadium will help the Tigers on the field, but it will also be sure to impress the big group of talented recruits in attendance for the Tigers.

In addition to the majority of LSU’s excellent recruiting class, the majority of which is local and should be in attendance, here are some top uncommitted players LSU will be looking to bring in.

What looked at the time like a season-ending knee injury turned out to be a dislcoated kneecap for 2012 Sealy (TX) athlete Ricky Seals-Jones, who returned to action for the first time Friday night against Columbus (TX) for the first time since he sustained the injury in early September in a game against Houston (TX) St. Pius X that was televised on ESPNU.

It was a typical performance for the electric playmaker on Friday night, featuring a touchdown reception and an interception returned for a touchdowns.

Having reduced his list to those schools some weeks ago, Seals-Jones does not appear close to a decision, but he has said in the past that playing a high-powered offense is his preference. Right now, with the LSU passing attack struggling and the new A&M Airraid offense led by the redshirt freshman known as Johnny Football lighting up scoreboards, A&M appears to have the advantage there. Proximity is also working in favor of the Aggies.

But Seals-Jones isn’t the only high-profile visitor for the high-profile contest. Plano (TX) Prestonwood Christian linebacker Mike Mitchell will be in attendance as the Aggies try to sway him in his relatively wide-open recruitment, one that has been hard to gauge because he rarely gives interviews. Ohio State may still be the favorite with the uber-athletic linebacker, but there were some rumblings during the spring that Mitchell’s father wants his son to stay in Texas for college. If so, Texas A&M may have the advantage.

Seals-Jones shared his thoughts on both schools in a recent interview with ESPN:

So, who has the current lead? Seals-Jones isn’t sharing, but Aggie fans are feeling confident.

In a surprising turn of events, Hookem.com, the Texas 247Sports affiliate, is reporting on Wednesday evening that the Longhorns are no longer recruiting 2013 Sealy athlete Ricky Seals-Jones ($), the future collegiate wide receiver who injured his knee last week, but is still considered one of the top prospects in the country.

The report was confirmed through multiple sources roughly an hour later by Orangebloods.

Last Thursday, in front of a national television audience tuned in to ESPNU, 2013 Sealy (TX) athlete Ricky Seals-Jones was wowing recruitniks across the country with his work on offense and defense, breaking off several long touchdowns runs virtually untouched by Houston (TX) St. Pius X defenders.

After suffering a cramp that forced him to the sideline for several plays, Seals-Jones tracked down a defender and attempted to spin his opponent down. It worked, but not before the prospect known as RSJ torqued his left knee. At the time, it looked like a possible ACL injury, but his parents revealed after the game that the diagnosis was a dislocated kneecap.

No. 1 wide receiver in the class of 2013 Ricky Seals-Jones was taken off the field with an apparent knee injury on Thursday night. Seals-Jones is listed as a five-star recruit by Scout.com, while Rivals and ESPN both have him at four stars. The sought-after prospect had been dealing with cramps during the game, but went down holding his knee late in the game. He was once committed to Texas, but opened his recruitment back up, though the Longhorns are still in the mix.

After staying on the turf for some time, trainers brought out an air cast and stretcher to take him off the field. Our own Wescott Eberts was watching and said the injury didn’t look good on first glance.

The so-called “Bellcow” of the 2013 Texas recruiting class, Celina lineman Jake Raulerson, spent last weekend in Atlanta at the inaugural Rivals Challenge with recent decommit Ricky Seals-Jones, the five-star Sealy athlete. SB Nation caught up with Raulerson at Plano Prestonwood Christian tight end Christian Morgan’s announcement and asked him about Seals-Jones:

I mean, we didn’t talk really about recruiting. I didn’t want to bug him too much. We had fun. We talked a lot. He was fooling around most of the time. He, Tyrone, and I were talking, along with the other Texas recruits, so it was a lot of fun.Despite Raulerson’s appointment as leader of the class, he’s consistently taken a subtle and nuanced approach to bringing other prospects into the fold and a major tenant to that approach is a lack of pressure and a respect for the decision-making process of his fellow prospects.

Ever since decommitting from Texas nearly three weeks ago, 2013 Sealy athlete Ricky Seals-Jones has mostly gone silent regarding the status of recruitment.

Checking in at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge in Atlanta meant that Seals-Jones had to face the media and make what are now rare public comments.

According to multiple reports, former Texas commit Ricky Seals-Jones, the Sealy athlete who opened up his recruitment last week, is on campus Thursday visiting with the football and basketball staffs following his visit to Texas A&M on Wednesday.

As Texas head coach Mack Brown revealed in his Wednesday press conference, the coaching staff was planning on traveling to San Angelo on Thursday to assist with a clinic there, but apparently canceled those plans to visit with Seals-Jones.

If Texas fans were sick to their stomach on Wednesday upon learning that former commit Ricky Seals-Jones, the freak athlete from Sealy (TX), was on the campus of Texas A&M, Thursday brought much better news -- multiple reports from the services that RSJ will visit Austin the day after spending time in College Station.

A trip to LSU may also be in the works.

2013 Texas quarterback commit Tyrone Swoopes (Whitewright, Texas) has built a relationship with now-former Texas commit Ricky Seals-Jones, but was caught off guard ($) by his friend’s de-commitment on Tuesday evening:

Swoopes did, however, have some good news for worried Longhorn fans:

In shocking news on Tuesday evening for Texas Longhorn fans from Scout recruiting analyst Greg Powers, now-former 2013 Texas commit Ricky Seals-Jones, who only days ago ran a 4.4 40 at the Sunday Texas mini-camp and excelled at receiver as well, has opened up his recruitment:

However, the prospect known as RSJ is still considering Texas: