Wide Net

Although John Martinez says he doesn't care about a program's location, he admits preferring to leave his home state of Utah, despite growing up a fan of both BYU and Utah. "BYU is only about 35 minutes away and Utah is like 10 minutes from here," he said. "I've lived here all my life and I'm honestly getting a little tired of it. I still have BYU in my top five...but I'd like to move away..."

John Martinez, the 6-foot-3, 265-pound four-star offensive lineman (tackle or guard) from Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, says he already has 13 scholarship offers and is expecting more. Martinez doesn't think he'll make an early decision.

"I really want to go through the whole process and see all the offers I get and be able to check out as many schools as I can," Martinez said. "I want to make sure that I get along with my position coach and the strength and conditioning coach. I'm also looking for good facilities. Those are the main things for me. I don't care about the weather or the location."

Although Martinez says he doesn't care about the location he admits he'd prefer to leave his home state of Utah, despite growing up a fan of both BYU and Utah. "BYU is only about 35 minutes away and Utah is like 10 minutes from here," he said. "I've lived here all my life and I'm honestly getting a little tired of it. I still have BYU in my top five, just in case I do decide to stay close, but I'd like to move away from here."

His uncle, Steve Kaufusi, the defensive line coach for BYU, will undoubtedly be trying to keep him in the Beehive State. Martinez attended the Cougars' Junior Day a few weeks ago and they were his first scholarship offer last March.

Martinez denies a favorite, but says he likes "USC, LSU, BYU, Oklahoma State and Miami." All of Martinez' favorites have offered with the 'Canes recruiting him the hardest. "They send me the most handwritten letters," he said. "But I'm also getting a lot of handwritten letters from USC and Oklahoma State too."

He also has offers from Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

"I really like the coaching staff at USC," Martinez said. "I met them all at a camp last year and they were all very cool. It's also a great environment and really peaceful. I like the whole program overall. They are always a good team and it's just a great place."

He plans to attend the Trojans summer camp again this year and will also be at the LSU summer camp as well. Last fall he was at the LSU/Arkansas game and came away extremely impressed. "The environment there is amazing," he said. "They had like 90,000 people there and I've never experienced anything like that before. The fans are amazing and they just worship football. It's seriously like a religion for them."

Martinez also attended the Oklahoma State/Kansas State game last fall and got a chance to visit with his old teammate, Alex Cate, who is a backup quarterback for the Cowboys.

"He gets on my case and really wants me to go to Oklahoma State, but we're good friends and he tries to help and just be supportive," Martinez said. "I really love the facilities at Oklahoma State. Everything there is top-notch and they've got a great locker room and weight room."

Martinez benches 345-pounds, squats 445 and has a 27-inch vertical jump. He says he can run the forty in 4.9. "I can get downfield fast. I hustle hard, but I want to improve my agility and footwork. I'm doing a lot of speed training and plyometrics trying to improve my lateral quickness and side-to-side movement."

Martinez reports a 3.0 core GPA and took the ACT in early February.