Arizona State offers 2024 On3 top-55 CB Mario Buford

DeSoto (Texas) four-star cornerback Mario Buford received an offer from Arizona State on Sunday night. He announced the news over social media.

Buford is the No. 237 overall prospect and No. 22 cornerback in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 39 player in Texas.

On3 rates Buford higher than other recruiting services, according to the Industry Comparison. Per the 2024 On300, he is the No. 52 overall prospect, No. 6 cornerback and No. 11 player in Texas.

✞ 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲

💛💛 pic.twitter.com/JuvZxDKB0l

— Mario Buford (@riogocrazy) January 16, 2023

The 5-foot-11.5, 165-pound defensive back holds 14 offers. According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, Nebraska is leading for his commitment at 55.6%.

RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. 

It factors in machine learning, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.

Arizona State currently has no commitments in its 2024 recruiting class. Meanwhile, the Sun Devils’ 2023 class, which contains 17 pledges, is No. 59 in the 2023 On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings and No. 10 in the Pac-12.

Buford has an On3 NIL Valuation of $21K. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV). The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

Mario Buford On3 Scouting Summary

The following is the On3 Scouting Summary for Mario Buford:

“Lengthy corner prospect who can pin down receivers and play the ball in the air as good as anyone in the country. Stands in at 5-foot-11.5, 165 pounds with an impressive 6-foot-3.5 wingspan. Jumped a 30-inch vertical and nearly a 10-foot broad jump during the spring camp circuit prior to his junior season.

“Ran a 23.85 200m and jumped a 20-foot-4 long jump during his freshman track and field season. Projects to boundary corner due to his length and physicality. Has the frame to fill out nicely at the next level. Brother is current Nebraska cornerback, Marques Buford.”