Jordan Pride, nation's No. 6 safety, commits to Texas A&M over Alabama, Florida, others

Blountstown (Florida) four-star safety Jordan Pride has been through an intense recruiting battle.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound defensive back, rated the nation's No. 84 overall prospect and No. 6 safety, picked up 20 scholarship offers during the process before narrowing things down to six finalists - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

Pride was even committed to Florida State as recently as last month. 

On Tuesday, however, Pride announced a commitment to a program he believes will stick.

He's headed to Texas A&M:

For Pride, the final push for his recruitment primarily came down to Florida, Florida State and Texas A&M.

While the Seminoles were eventually eliminated following an April decommitment, the Florida product had visited Tallahassee several times.

He also took multiple visits to Florida and two trips to check out the Aggies.

By decision day, Texas A&M was viewed as the clear-cut leader by the industry, but both in-state schools certainly tried to make a real push in the final weeks. 

Pride, an All-American Bowl selection, is the sixth commitment in Texas A&M's 2024 recruiting class, a group that ranks No. 32 nationally.

In recent years, Jimbo Fisher's program has started slow in terms of the number of commitments, focusing on quality over quantity while laying the foundation for a fall push.

In the 2022 cycle, that led to the nation's No. 1 class, while Texas A&M finished No. 11 last year.

So, it's likely a significant push is coming, and front-loading the class with recruits of Pride's caliber will make that ascension easier down the road, as he is the current headliner of the group. 

Here's what 247Sports had to say about Pride as a prospect:

"A bigger framed safety prospect with a multi-sport background that has impacted the game in all three phases on Friday nights. Excels at flowing downhill towards the football. Started prep career off at Blountstown where he faced a lower level of competition. Spent a few months at IMG Academy and got varsity snaps with the Ascenders before electing to return back home. While at the national powerhouse flashed some range on the backend and was able to use his longer reach to eliminate throwing windows. Quick to read and diagnose. Understands how to play angles and has the footspeed to close most gaps. Face-up tackler that can wrangle larger players to the ground, but could always get a little more aggressive at the point of attack, especially if he wants to live in the box. Has the makeup of a potential ace on special teams given how he runs and sifts through traffic. Overall, should be viewed as a potential impact player in the back seven for a Power Five program. Will need to keep progressing and recover fully from a knee injury, but size and athletic markers are encouraging. Could thrive in a single-high look at the next level." 

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