Martez Ivey, the No. 2 national recruit according to the 247Sports Composite, committed to Florida over Auburn on National Signing Day. Ivey is a consensus five-star recruit who received a nearly perfect composite rating of 0.9990 and is listed as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation.
No. 1 OL Martez Ivey commits to Florida over Auburn on Signing Day
The country’s best offensive tackle prospect is staying home to play for the Gators.
247Sports
Auburn and Florida were his only two finalists.
“Fullback Chandler Cox, his friend and teammate, is committed to Auburn,” predicts Bud Elliott, “but Ivey has a good relationship with Florida offensive line coach Mike Summers, and the Gators have only eight returning scholarship linemen. The early playing time keeps Ivey home with the Gators.”
For more Florida, visit Alligator Army, and for more Auburn, head to College and Magnolia.
Ivey is a 6’6, 275-pound offensive lineman with a reported 40-yard dash time of 5.2 seconds. During his senior season at Apopka High School in Apopka, Fla., Ivey helped lead the Blue Darters to a 15-0 record and the Florida Class 8A state championship.
He took an official visit to LSU in December and took a pair of unofficial visits to Florida State in November and April, but experts never considered Ivey to be a serious candidate for any schools other than Auburn or Florida. He’s said he was “50/50” between the two in December.
With no clear-cut consensus for the top prospect in the nation, there’s an argument to be made for Ivey as the No. 1 recruit. Wescott Eberts think he’s one of five players with an argument as the No. 1 football prospect of 2015 because of his elite physical makeup and ability to dominate in both the passing and running game:
Defensive linemen make up the rest of this list. But a left tackle is the cornerstone of a program, tasked with protecting the blindside of the quarterback. And Ivey is an elite left tackle prospect and arguably the best player in the country because he can run block and pass protect equally well, packs a strong punch with his hands, and has the length to engulf most opponents.
Elliott agrees in his scouting report and believes the offensive tackle should have a strong chance to be a multi-year starter and strong pass protector, although there isn’t much tape to support that claim:
He plays in a very run-oriented Wing-T offense, sometimes even lining up at guard. His stance has a lot of weight on his front hand, and is not the typical tackle stance. This did improve as a junior.
While I believe Ivey will be a good pass protector at the college level, that is almost entirely based on his size, length and light feet. He simply doesn’t have much film of pass protecting to evaluate.
Ivey was originally set to announce his decision at the Army All-America Bowl, but instead elected to wait. He was awarded the national player of the year award at a banquet prior to the event.
