09 lineman has early offers
Salt Lake City (Utah) Cottonwood has had an elite player in the program over the last four years including the top linebacker in the West this year in Lynn Katoa. The class of 2009 will be strong as well headlined by offensive lineman John Martinez.
Martinez, 6-4, 250 pounds started at right tackle for Cottonwood a year ago (left handed QB) and will make the switch to left tackle this coming season. He's a big, physical lineman and will be among the top OLs in the West region a year from now.
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Martinez has a nice combination of size and athleticism benching 345 pounds with a 305 pound power clean and jumping 28 inches in the vertical at USC's summer camp.
In addition to camping with USC, Martinez has also camped with Notre Dame and will head to Florida for a visit this Friday. The lineman has also attended Junior Days at BYU and Oklahoma State and currently has four offers on the table.
"BYU, Utah, Oklahoma State and Oregon State have all offered so far," Martinez' father Steve said. "We've also heard several other schools will early offer him once they can start sending him real mail as well."
When it comes to naming favorites, Martinez isn't close to narrowing his list and plans to take his time with the whole recruiting process.
"I want to take my trips and see what is out there," Martinez said. "I'm looking for a school where I can get a good education but mostly, I want a school that is going to help me become the best player I can be. Getting better is the most important thing to me.
"That's why for me, my position coach and strength coach will be more important to me than winning tradition, what conference the school is in and other stuff like that.
"My ultimate goal is to play in the NFL so I'm going to do whatever I can and work as hard as I can to achieve that goal. If things don't work out with football, then I would love to be a coach, teacher or trainer but hopefully I'll make it and can play football for a lot of years."