The Bay Area’s highest-rated recruit in the college football recruiting class of 2025 committed to Texas A&M on Tuesday afternoon.
San Ramon Valley’s Marco Jones, ranked as a four-star prospect by recruiting website 247Sports.com, made the announcement on a YouTube livestream.
Jones picked the Aggies over USC, Texas and reigning champion Michigan.
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Jones joins an 18-player recruiting class ranked seventh by 247Sports. Jones is the fourth player to commit to first-year coach Mike Elko’s inaugural recruiting class, a group headlined by California’s top-ranked player in quarterback Husan Longstreet.
“Coach Elko is building something special,” Jones said. “He’s a genius on the defensive side of the ball, and he’s hired a lot of great people around him.”
Texas A&M has yet to win an SEC championship since joining the conference in 2012, something Jones hopes to help change.
“I’ve always been about being an underdog, and they haven’t been the most successful program or haven’t won a bunch of national championships in the past few years,” Jones said. “But I think they’re going to take that next step in the next few years, and I want to be a part of that.”
Jones was named the Bay Area News Group 2023 Contra Costa County football player of the year after he put up 166 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, three interceptions and three forced fumbles, and returning two interceptions for touchdowns.
The do-it-all star also contributed on offense, catching seven touchdowns and rushing for three more. However, he sees himself strictly as a pass-rusher at the next level.
“I’m going to be an impact on the edge, and that’s what I hope to be doing for a long time,” Jones said. “You can’t have too many guys rushing the passer.”
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Jones has been a leader on one of the best football teams in the Bay Area over the past two seasons, helping lead San Ramon Valley to berths in the 2022 2-A state title and the North Coast Section Division I championship game in 2023.
An accomplished all-around athlete, Jones also made the All-BANG baseball team in 2024 as an honorable mention after hitting .347 with three home runs and 26 RBI.
Jones plans on playing for the Aggies baseball team, which reached the College World Series championship a few weeks ago.
“Baseball was definitely a big factor,” Jones said. “I think as the year started going on and I became better and better at baseball, it became a factor for sure.”