Deondrae Riden commits to Texas A&M; nation's No. 7 running back staying in-state
One of the best running backs in the country gave Texas A&M a surprise commitment on Monday night.
Class of 2025 DeSoto (Texas) standout Deondrae Riden made his commitment to the Aggies, and wished running backs coach Trooper Taylor an early birthday when he posted the news (his birthday is Tuesday) to social media.
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound back led DeSoto to its second consecutive Texas high school football state title in December to cap his second straight 1,000-yard rushing season, headlined by a 248-yard rushing outing with two touchdowns on 34 carries in a UIL 6A Division II semifinal win over Southlake Carroll.
DeSoto finished the season the No. 2 team in the country in the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 national rankings.
Riden missed two games with an arm injury and saw limited carries for much of the first half of the season as one of several standout backs. With Marvin Duffey graduated, Riden will be the lead back next fall.
He reportedly visited Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor in January and was also linked to SMU and USC.
The Aggies are having a tremendous offseason recruiting coming off after landing the signing of 2024 five-star Terry Bussey, who remained verbally committed after Jimbo Fisher was fired in November.
Riden is the fourth commit commit for Elko and his staff in the Aggies' class of 2025 verbals, joining three other in-state verbals Spring Legacy three-star offensive lineman Joshua Moses, Forney three-star linebacker Kelvion Riggins and Katy Paetow four-star corner Jeyjhon Pettaway.
Deondrae Riden celebrates a touchdown during a monster UIL 6A division II state semifinal performance against Southlake Carroll.
Photo by Michael Horbovetz, SBLive Sports
Rivals rates Riden, a consensus four-star, as the No. 7 running back in the nation, No. 1 81 prospect in the country and No. 16 in Texas. He's the second highest rated running back returning to the high school stage Texas next fall.
-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivetx
