Ivy has his first three offers

East St. Louis (Ill.) quarterback Lamontiez Ivy went through the winter and into the spring without picking up his first scholarship offer, but the evaluation period has brought the 6-3, 225-pound signal caller his first set of offers from Illinois, Kansas and Minnesota.

"I didn't really know I had the Illinois and Kansas offers, but I just asked coach one day and he said I had them two," Ivy said. "The next day, Minnesota had offered. It feels good now that I know that I have that opportunity. If I keep my grades and my performance up, I'll be good."

Of the three schools that have offered, Ivy has only had the chance to visit Illinois thus far. The Illini coach he communicates with most frequently is DeAndre Smith.

"I like how their school is nice and close and you don't have to do too much to get to classes," Ivy said. "They say their school does a lot for students and their classes."

Ivy is looking to set up a trip with Kansas for next week. His recruiting contact for the Jayhawks is Coach Reggie Mitchell.

Meanwhile, Ivy is in the infancy of his relationship with Minnesota. His offer from the Golden Gophers came in earlier this month, but he has had minimal contact with their coaching staff to this point.

"I was going to call their coach tonight and find a little more out about them," Ivy said of Minnesota.

Quarterback prospects often decide early in the recruiting process, but with Ivy's recruitment just kicking off he said the plan is to wait things out for awhile before deciding. He lists no favorites at this point and is considering summer camps to earn more offers.

"I am supposed to go to Mizzou's camp and I'm supposed to go to Kansas, Minnesota, Cincinnati and Michigan State," Ivy said.

On Friday, Ivy attended the Elite 11 regional in Columbus, Ohio. The Columbus regional was the most talent-laden stop of the tour thus far according to camp organizers, and Ivy found himself among the top group.

"I felt I did pretty good," Ivy said. "I started off slow, but after that everything went well. I performed just as good as any of them, but not better."

Ivy threw a beautiful ball all weekend in Columbus, showing good velocity and decent accuracy on his passes. Ivy also learned from watching the other elite quarterbacks perform and from those instructing.

"There's a lot more to playing quarterback than dropping back and slinging the ball," Ivy noted. "I've got to take care of getting my balance straight. I need to work on not staring down where I am going and looking downfield. In high school ball you don't need to work on that too much, so I need to work on that before going to the next level."

Last fall, Ivy threw for over 1,700 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has dual-threat abilities and is able to make plays with his speed and athleticism.