Jordan Seaton, the top-ranked offensive lineman in the 2024 recruiting class, has signed with Colorado after all.

Seaton had initially announced his decision to play for Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes on Dec. 7, during an appearance on FS1’s “Undisputed.” But when the early signing period opened Wednesday, Seaton was not among Colorado’s signing announcements.

That prompted plenty of speculation that he was going to flip his commitment, and 247Sports cited Maryland as the front-runner of a group that also included Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. But, in the end, the No. 11 overall recruit in the 247Sports Composite out of Florida’s IMG Academy signed on the dotted line with the Buffs.

Colorado announced the move Friday night on X, formerly Twitter, and Seaton shared posts on his social media accounts about the decision, including an Instagram Reel that featured Shedeur Sanders.

Seaton will be called on to protect Sanders, Colorado’s star quarterback and coach Deion Sanders’ son, who was battered behind a porous offensive line. Shedeur Sanders was sacked a nation-leading 52 times and ended the season injured with a fracture in his back.

Though Deion Sanders once again secured the top-ranked transfer class, Seaton is the crown jewel of a very small traditional recruiting class. Colorado has landed just six high school recruits to date, giving them the 99th-ranked class via the 247Sports Composite, even with the five-star Seaton and three four-star recruits (Drelon Miller, Kamron Mikell and Brandon Davis-Swain) in the fold.

Contributing: Jordan Mendoza and Brent Schrotenboer

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jordan Seaton signs with Deion Sanders' Colorado football team