Five-Star Plus+ OT Jordan Seaton details final stage of recruitment, choosing Colorado

Washington (D.C.) native and Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy product Jordan Seaton left no stone unturned in his topsy-turvy recruitment.

The Five-Star Plus+ offensive tackle kept everyone on their toes at all times, taking a heap of visits to some of the programs in the nation. Colorado looked to be out of the mix upon Seaton’s Dec. 7 commitment date, yet Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes landed his pledge in another surprising twist.

Then came the Early Signing Period. Talks of Seaton flipping to another program were heating up in the rumor mill — and proceeded to intensify when he was one of the few five-stars to not send in his Letter of Intent on Early National Signing Day. In the final hours on Dec. 22, Colorado finally announced Seaton, officially making him a Buffalo.

Now, Seaton headlines a small recruiting class that’s headed to Boulder. The No. 9 prospect in the On3 Industry Ranking talked about his wild ride of a recruitment ahead of playing in the Under Armour All-America Game on Jan. 3.

“Sometimes you want to make sure that you’re choosing the right reasons and you’re making the right choice,” Seaton told reporters on Friday. “Ohio State was hitting me up, Tennessee was trying to come see me. Every school was trying to do everything they had to to make the last push.”

Alabama nearly flipped Seaton

Tennessee, Oregon, Ohio State, Florida, Maryland and Alabama were all “finalists” in Seaton’s recruitment. Every school except the close-to-home Terrapins had him on campus for an official visit.

Throughout the fall, each school garnered momentum for the 6-foot-5, 295-pounder. That didn’t come to an end after his December pledge to Colorado, either. Coaches from Alabama, Tennessee, Oregon and Ohio State continued to have conversations with Seaton up until the end.

One talk in-particular with Alabama offensive line coach Eric Wolford almost landed the Crimson Tide the top-ranked offensive tackle in the nation.

“Can’t forget Alabama, Wolf came to my school, we had a long, in-depth conversation, I almost flipped there. There was a lot going on at the time,” Seaton said.

Maryland, Nebraska attempted late Cinderella runs

Maryland managed to stay in the picture late thanks to its proximity to home for Seaton. Smoke began to build late around a potential flip to the Terrapins, but the elite lineman ultimately decided that being close to home wasn’t the right move for him from a football perspective.

“Maryland had a good shot, but it’s like…is staying home the best thing for me? When I went to IMG, it was strictly just football, just about my business, I can work on my craft and get better. What if I did that at the college level, go away, work on my craft and do the same thing I did at IMG at another program. I think that’s the best thing for me, personally,” he said.

Even Nebraska jumped in during the final hours, as newly-flipped five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola did his best to lure Seaton to Lincoln. Raiola’s message was to “come make history,” but Seaton sees his own opportunity for history in Boulder.

“Make history…I can make history at Colorado,” he said.

Relationship with Sanders put Colorado over the top

Seaton saw opportunities everywhere and had his pick of the litter as far as where he wanted to play college football. Colorado doesn’t compare to the Alabama’s and Ohio State’s of the world when it comes to a track record of developing elite linemen, but playing for Deion Sanders trumps that for Seaton.

Across his two fall visits to Boulder and his communication with Sanders, Seaton developed a relationship that made a humongous impact on his decision. Despite the negative recruiting against Sanders done by other schools, Seaton sees the potential to be a part of something special under the polarizing head coach.

“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.

…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.”