Why wait any longer? That was the question that Bishop O'Dowd running back Austin Jones asked himself and his parents when considering committing to the school he had known for a long time was his choice.

The answer was to call Stanford head coach David Shaw Friday and start the Cardinal coaches' weekend right with a commitment to the Cardinal.

Right after talking to Shaw, Jones called his primary recruiter, running backs coach Ron Gould.

"They were super surprised, especially when I told Coach Gould," Jones said. "When I told Coach Gould he was like, 'Oh, really? Wow, usually I know when they're going to commit. That came out of nowhere.' You could tell there was really love there. That's how I knew it was Stanford. Obviously everywhere I went there was going to be love and they want me. But with Stanford, that's the definition of love right there."

Stanford offered Jones Feb. 7 and the Cardinal were on his mind well before that. A star running back across the Bay, Jones is a top student at his Oakland high school and finished his junior season with 1,560 yards on 145 carries, 23 of which ended in touchdowns.

He visited Stanford three times and every time he was at The Farm he thought, 'This is where I should be', he said.

"It's one of those things that I just felt. My relationship with the coaches is great. When I go there it's not just Coach Gould and Coach Shaw, it's all the coaches. They all knew me and they all talked to me."

Jones recalled his first conversation with Shaw during a visit to campus. Shaw didn't want to focus on Jones the athlete. He was more interested in everything else.

"That's what really shocked me," Jones said. "Every school I went to they want to talk football and how they're going to use me. Coach Shaw was like, 'You're a great football player and you run exactly the way we need you to run, but I want to talk about who you are as a person.' That really showed me that he's serious."

And it wasn't just the coaches who made Jones feel welcome. When he met the running backs they talked about how he could help the team and that they'd be happy to have him. There was no competitive bitterness.

Jones is at The Opening Finals in Frisco, Texas this weekend and already has grand designs for how he can help build Stanford's 2019 class.

"I'd say in the next week or two I can get about three commits, baby. I'm really pushing kids," he said. "I have to help the coaches now. They recruited me so now let me help them by recruiting everyone else who they want."