Baylor Football Receives Commit #4 for 2013-- RB Johnny Jefferson

I waited a few minutes to post this out of respect for Baylor's hardworking paid subscription sites (I believe that our Scout.com site BearsIllustrated had it first) but now that the news has disseminated a bit on twitter, I can tell you that Baylor Football received its 4th commitment for the 2013 class today in the form of Killeen Shoemaker HS RB Johnny Jefferson, who until as recently as yesterday was committed to Texas A&M.

Jefferson was part of the rather large and impressive group of prospects Baylor brought on campus yesterday for Pro Day, and his decommitment from A&M following his experience at Baylor, which he described in glowing terms on his facebook page, was a point of some controversy on A&M's 247Sports board. There was some talk of an ultimatum given by Sumlin's staff (the "don't visit there or we'll pull your offer" type), and things got ugly enough with regard to Jefferson's decision to decommit that his father actually showed up on the board to defend his son. That's not exactly how you win friends and influence people, and it's one of the reasons that I have said before I will not tolerate badmouthing of recruits on ODB. You never know who is reading and how that may affect a decision. Perhaps before reading that thread, Jefferson was considering recommitting to A&M. You just never know.

I can certainly understand why they might be upset; Jefferson is an outstanding running back recruit for the 2013 class that holds offers from Ohio State, Notre Dame, TCU, UCLA, and obviously Texas A&M. He was impressed enough by watching Baylor's practice yesterday, however, to spurn those schools and choose the Baylor Bears. He is currently a high-3* by all three major recruiting services, and here are links to his profiles on Scout, Rivals, and 247Sports. I'll embed the highlight video from his junior season below the jump.

Welcome to Baylor, Johnny! Sic 'em, Bears!

UPDATE: I've seen some talk on (mostly A&M) message boards saying that Baylor might have violated NCAA rules by having recruits on-campus during the Pro Day on Wednesday. Let me assure you that they did not. The recruits were never allowed inside the Allison Indoor Practice facility during the events of the Pro Day, were not permitted to interact with NFL scouts and/or front office people, and were there to watch that afternoon's practice, not the actual Pro Day itself. They were given a tour of the campus and other facilities during the Pro Day and were kept outside by coaches assigned to do that. With over 200 members of the media present that day, if Baylor had violated NCAA regulations in any way with what they did, we wouldn't be finding out from your buddy Seamus that you talked to at the Jiffy Lube. Just stop it.

Johnny Jefferson (JR YEAR) Highlights 2013 (via jeffersonshoemaker)

I suggest you turn down your speakers before you start the video. The music is pretty loud.