Colorado Buffaloes offer elite 4-star TE AJ Ia
Orange (Calif.) Lutheran four-star tight end AJ Ia continues to rise as one of the top players at his position in the 2025 cycle. On Friday, he added another offer.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder announced that he’s been offered by Deion Sanders and Colorado:
Ia is the No. 404 overall prospect and No. 21 TE in the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also the No. 33 player in California.
On3 ranks Ia higher than other recruiting services. He checks in at No. 72 overall, No. 3 at his position and No. 3 in The Golden State in the updated 2025 On300.
On Thursday, Ia locked in an official visit to Arizona State from April 26-28. The Sun Devils were the first to offer the four-star. Since then, the likes of Tennessee, Florida State, Miami, Oregon and Auburn have followed suit.
Ia is one of the latest high-profile prospects to receive an offer from the Buffaloes. Earlier this week, Overland Park (Kan.) Blue Valley Northwest four-star offensive tackle Andrew Babalola — a top-20 prospect in the On3 Industry Ranking — was also a recipient.
Buffaloes still without a commitment in 2025 cycle
Colorado signed just eight prospects in the 2024 cycle — culminating in the No. 66 class in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. Headlining is Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy Five-Star Plus+ OT Jordan Seaton, the top-ranked OT in the nation.
Ultimately, it was Seaton’s relationship with Deion Sanders and the chance to make history in Boulder that put Colorado on top.
“It’s kind of amazing to have. The amount of time that we had wasn’t a lot, but the amount of time we spent and how we spent it with each other kind of made the big difference for me,” Seaton said of his relationship with Coach Prime.
…For example, it was my mother’s birthday and there were only two schools that said happy birthday to my mother — Colorado was one of them. Just little things like that, that stood out to me, because it’s like ‘oh, he cares about me first, regardless of how good I am or how good I could be.’ Sometimes you go to these big programs and for every Evan Neal, there’s another five-star.”
Other top commits in Colorado’s 2024 class include Statesboro (Ga.) four-star athlete Kam Mikell and Silsbee (Texas) four-star wide receiver Dre’lon Miller, both of whom are top-150 recruits. The Buffs are currently without a pledge in the 2025 cycle.