3-star OT Mallory to commit next week

Class of 2015 three-star offensive tackle Evan Mallory of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy has reached his decision of where he'll attend school and is set to make his announcement sometime early next week. The 6-foot-5, 312-pound Mallory said it came down to two schools - Cincinnati and Louisville.

Mallory will announce his decision at the Academy either Monday or Tuesday. He cited close proximity to home in Brownsburg, Ind. as a major deciding factor. Both of his finalists are approximately two hours from there.

"Family is big for me," said Mallory, who will play his first season away from home for IMG. "Moving down to Florida and being away has been difficult, so having family able to come to games is a huge thing for me and will really help my mom and everything too."

The Bearcats were one of the first to offer Mallory, doing so around Christmas time.

"When I went to visit a couple of weeks ago I connected with the coaches and I really like them up there," said Mallory, who is being recruited by offensive line coach Darren Hiller. "I spent the night with some of the (Bearcats players) and connected and I figured I could fit there well. I liked the program and thought it was a good experience with the players.

"I feel comfortable with coach Hiller."

The Cardinals offered earlier in the year after soon after Bobby Petrino was hired. Offensive line coach Chris Klenakis has been recruiting Mallory.

"It's a really nice school," Mallory said. "They have a bunch of nice things there. The dorms were pretty awesome - blew me out of the water. It was a nice, fully-furnished living room with a big kitchen, so that was cool to see. One, it's just a nice place and two, I like coach Klenakis. He definitely wants me there and the guys there want to win."

Mallory said after his announcement is made, he only plans on making one official visit.

"I'll take one visit to the school that (I commit to)," he said.

With his mind made up, Mallory said he can focus on his senior season and work on improving on his game so that he's more prepared to play at the next level.

"It feels good to have the process finally come to an end," he said. "I had fun during it, and there's a lot of thinking that goes into and a lot of time spent talking with my family. It's really nice to have it out of the way so that my only focus is my game and football and being here at IMG. Now I don't have to worry about anything else except getting ready to be the best team."

Adam Krohn is a Southeast Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.