4-star S R.J. Jones decommits from California

Mission Hills (Calif.) St. John Bosco four-star safety R.J. Jones has decommitted from California. He was previously committed to the Golden Bears since February.

Jones, a 6-foot-0, 186 pound defensive back, is the No. 325 overall prospect and No. 29 safety in the 2023 On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 22 player in California.

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Jones was previously the Golden Bears’ highest-ranked-prospect. California also lost a commitment last weekend from Los Angeles (Calif.) Cathedral three-star defensive lineman Ashton Sanders, the No. 668 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus.

According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, it is a close race now to land Jones’ commitment. USC leads at 30.2%, while Oregon is close behind at 26.5%. Louisville has the third-best odds at 22.7%.

RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. 

It factors in machine learning, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.

How Jones’ decommitment impacts California’s 2023 class

California’s 2023 recruiting class now contains seven commitments. The group ranks No. 68 in the 2023 On3 Consensus Recruiting Rankings and No. 10 in the Pac-12.

Its class currently includes Herriman (Utah) Mountain Ridge three-star linebacker Cade Uluave, Salinas (Calif.) three-star wide receiver Nyziah Hunter, Rohnert Park (Calif.) Rancho Cotate three-star cornerback Sailasa Vadrawale, Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Blackman tight end Ben Marshall and La Puente (Calif.) Bishop Amat three-star defensive lineman Tiumalu Afalava. Other commitments include Las Vegas (Nev.) Arbor View defensive lineman Zurich Ashford and Arcadia (Calif.) Rio Hondo Preparatory School defensive lineman Ryan McCulloch.

Jones has an On3 NIL Valuation of $17K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.