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As a five-star recruit who had scholarship offers from just about every blueblood program in college football, Jordan Seaton got a close look at a lot of teams.
He visited perennial powers Ohio State and Alabama, along with tradition-rich SEC programs Florida and Tennessee. He grew up in the shadows of Maryland, a Big Ten program, and was recruited by reigning national champion Michigan, among others.
So, it’s not a stretch to say that Seaton took a leap of faith to sign with Colorado, considering its severe lack of winning tradition over the last 20 years, including a 4-8 record a year ago.
“I actually thought this place was actually going to be really, really bad,” he said Monday after CU’s seventh practice of preseason camp. “Everybody has their own opinion.”
By “bad,” Seaton explained he just wasn’t sure what resources CU had compared to the bluebloods.
“You don’t know how much money we’re bringing in here,” he said. “Like, you go to other universities, like the Big Ten, SEC, they got $10 billion contracts – all crazy stuff. So it’s like, you know, I thought I was taking a risk.”
About seven months after taking that risk, Seaton hasn’t looked back and he’s got a different opinion of CU and Boulder.
“Coming in here it exceeded expectations,” Seaton said. “We actually have a great facility. … Everything has just exceeded expectation from the littlest things to the biggest things for me.”
Head coach Deion Sanders and the Buffs are hoping Seaton can exceed expectations, too.
Rated by 247Sports.com as the No. 1 prep offensive line recruit in the 2024 class, Seaton won’t ease into college football like a lot of freshmen offensive linemen do every year. Instead, the 6-foot-5, 285-pounder will likely start at the most important position on the line: left tackle.
A week into his first preseason camp in college, Seaton said he understands the expectation on him.
“It’s been hard work, like literally hard work,” he said of his first week. “Coach Prime don’t play and then me being an incoming freshman and having a big role as I do, I’ve got to come in and, you know, can’t be the 19-year-old that I am.”
To get ready, Seaton, who arrived on campus in January, has reshaped his body and said he’s been on an all-fish diet prepared every day by CU executive chef Carl Solomon.
“I’ve been very grateful to him because he’s been a big part in transitioning my body, and then just going to lift and working,” he said of the process.
On the field, Seaton said there have been some of the usual freshman struggles, but he’s not worried.
“Everybody struggles,” he said. “I have bad days in practice, but I’d rather it happen in practice then on the big field (on game day). I’m not perfect at what I do, but I’m gonna try to chase perfection so that’s really where I’m at right now.”
At Big 12 media day in Las Vegas last month, CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders expressed his confidence in having Seaton protecting him this season and the progress to this point.
“Yeah, Jordan looks real good,” Shedeur said. “I’m excited for Jordan. He’s learned a lot just overall, just even in life, just here being at Colorado so I’m really excited for him.”
Although Seaton felt it was a bit of a risk in coming to CU, he’s glad to be in Boulder. On his first day at CU, he said, “Oh yeah, I like it,” and he’s been enjoying it since.
“It wasn’t like a bad risk,” he said. “It was more of taking a chance on myself. Not too many people want to go to the … I call this an underdog school. You know, a lot of people want to go to a school that’s built, a school like Georgia, Alabama, where it’s like your next guy up. But here it’s like, you’ve never had no five star linemen coming here. You don’t have a Travis Hunter coming here every time. You don’t have a Shedeur Sanders at QB every time.
“Having Coach Prime, and everything he told me that he was going to do he did. Everything that coach said he was gonna do, he did and … it’s better than what I thought it would be.”
