Ricky Seals-Jones: "Texas Is Still No. 1"

Coming off a summer that saw 2013 Sealy athlete Ricky Seals-Jones de-commit from Texas, receive death threats from Longhorn fans via Twitter, participate in the Rivals Five-Star Challenge and The Opening, and still find the time to ball out with his AAU team, he's now preparing to start his senior season for the Tigers.

As usual, RSJ will be the triggerman for the Sealy offense, spending most of his time at quarterback, as he has in past seasons. The big change this year is playing him more often at wide receiver. It's not really about preparing him for his future college position, but rather about taking advantage of his size and speed both inside and outside to pressure opposing defenses.

The football field is probably a sanctuary for Seals-Jones after his wild summer, which wasn't particularly pleasant following his decommitment from Texas in early June:

When I decommitted, it was crazy. I got death threats on Twitter. A couple cars in my neighborhood we didn't know would drive by house real slow. I live in the country, so the cars that do drive by, you know who's in them.

I guess for some people, it's that serious. As the days and weeks went by, it started to die off, but for a few days, it was real hectic.

Seriously people, who does that? Disgusting.

Seals-Jones even had to deal with people continuing to say that he could or should end up on the defensive side of the ball in college, despite impressing against the best athletes at The Opening. Scipio Tex summed things up well:

He has huge hands that lock the ball in a vise, long arms, catches reliably on routine throws, high points jump balls like a power forward, is competitive, and uses a long, deceptive stride to lull DBs into constant miscalculation. You get the Vince Young "Is he running hard?" vibe from him and then you realize that's what makes him elite. He's under complete control at his top end, while most guys are careening around. He was a consistent deep threat, a red zone threat, and operated OK within and under the zone, even catching a little five yard flip and turning it into a twenty yard gain on a nice outside cut.

He won't be recruited by anyone as a defensive end because he wants to stay at wide receiver. And he can stay at wide receiver. Seem pretty open and shut, no?

What isn't nearly as open and shut is his recruitment. Back at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge, RSJ put his the odds of recommitting to Texas at 75%. On Friday, following his team's scrimmage against Navasota, here's how he summed up the current situation:

Texas is still No. 1. They're still No. 1 but it's just mixed up still. When I sit down and talk to my parents and coach and make that decision, that's when I'll really know where I'm going to go. It's all mixed up after that but it's probably LSU or A&M after that.

It sounds like RSJ is planning on taking his official visits this fall, with the three aforementioned schools set to host the Sealy star. LSU is likely to get a visit for the Alabama game and A&M for the Florida contest. Oregon was also mentioned as likely to receive a visit. He will almost certainly take in a game at Texas this season, but did not indicate which one. Perhaps West Virginia?

In the past, Seals-Jones has mentioned the atmosphere at a school as being an important factor, and has also mentioned the type of offense, which he would prefer to be a wide-open style like the Air Raid run at A&M. As a result, how the quarterback situations play out in Austin and College Station could factor into his decision.

During a brief conversation at The Opening, Seals-Jones said that his friendships with the other Texas commits, most notably quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, with whom he roomed at the Rivals event, would not play a major role, though it might actually be a bigger factor privately than what he would make public. In any case, the relationships won't hurt the Longhorns.

Still some twists and turns left in this one, but the Texas seems to be in strong shape to land what would be a relatively rare high-profile recommitment.

Just don't make death threats if he ends up somewhere else. Sadly, that does not apparently go without saying.