Fresh off helping Brooklyn high school Poly Prep to a 9-1 record for the 2014 season, Ray Marten is finally ready to tackle his recruitment head-on.
Marten, a 2016 tight end prospect, wasn’t expecting all of the pressure and stress that accompany high-level recruitments, but that’s a reality he’s facing as he begins to sift through the schools who are interested in him. To cope with it all, he said he’s going through the process carefully and with an open mind.
But there is one school that is already standing out to Marten in the early going.
“Boston College, they’ve been on me pretty consistently. They’ve been good. I really like them a lot,” he said. “I’m definitely keeping an open mind, but right now I really like BC.”
Boston College was the first school to offer Marten in June. Since then, he’s picked up an offer from Syracuse, too. More and more programs are starting to open phone lines with him, and Rutgers has been another school that’s been in consistent communication.
Despite the increase in interest from the likes of Syracuse, Rutgers and Penn State, it’s Boston College that currently offers the total package for Marten.
“They have great academics, which I’m looking for. That’s my No. 1 thing, and I was really impressed by that,” he said. “Next is football. Coach (Steve) Addazio really runs that program well. I’ve seen him coach up-close and personally, and he does a great job with those guys. It’s got great facilities. And it’s in Boston, which is a great town. It’s relatively close to home — it’s only a four-hour drive from my house, so that’s not bad. I really, really like it.”
Marten said distance from home is a factor in his recruitment, but it’s not a dealbreaker, either. He’s going to focus on finding the best fit for him, and distance would only serve as a tiebreaker between near and far schools.
As the 6-4, 225-pound prospect opens his recruitment in earnest, he’s undecided if he’s going to camp at programs around the country this coming summer. But there are additional visits he hopes to take, and he particularly wants to check out Duke and North Carolina sometime soon.
Marten expects more schools to reach out to him now that his junior season is over. He admitted that it can be a tad overwhelming trying to keep in touch with coaches from all over, but he’s approaching the heavy season of his recruitment with a clear mind.
“I didn’t expect it to be like this. It’s more intense than I was expecting it to be. A lot more pressure. It’s fun, but there’s a lot of pressure behind it,” he said. “I’m enjoying it, but we’ll see what happens. I’m keeping an open mind with everything and just taking it day-by-day, not over-thinking, not getting too excited. We’ll see what happens.”