After an extensive national recruiting process over the past 18 months,
Walsh Jesuit High School senior kicker Ross Martin officially gave his
firm verbal commitment Friday to Duke’s head football coach David
Cutcliffe, to play for the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Conference
starting in the 2012 season. He turned down Texas...
After an extensive national recruiting process over the past 18 months, Walsh Jesuit High School senior kicker Ross Martin officially gave his firm verbal commitment Friday to Duke’s head football coach David Cutcliffe, to play for the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Conference starting in the 2012 season.
“Duke has always been my dream school because of the great combination of world-class academics and D1 ACC football," Martin said. "From the minute I stepped onto campus everything about it felt like the perfect fit school for me. The changes that Coach Cutcliffe (Beginning his fourth season at Duke) and his staff are making at Duke are very exciting and it’s easy to see why Duke Football is considered by many experts to be the ‘up and coming’ program in the ACC. It’s a great time to be a Duke Blue Devil and I can’t wait to get back to Durham and work as hard I can to be a difference-maker kicker and impact specialist for the Blue Devils in helping them to win games and championships."
Martin is ranked the No. 1 Class of 2012 kicker in the nation by Kornblue Kicking. He’s a top-rated five-star kicker by Kornblue, Chris Sailer Kicking and Kohl’s Professional Kicking.
As a junior kicker for Walsh Jesuit High School, Martin was selected by the Associated Press as a first team All-State and first-team All-District kicker. He also was selected by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as a 2010 Plain Dealer Football All-Star.
“Coach Cutcliffe has so much character and integrity and a great reputation as a coach and person that is second to none," Martin said. "I’m very proud and honored to be a Blue Devil and for the opportunity to play my college football career under Coach Cutcliffe at Duke. I’ve also developed a great relationship and chemistry with Duke Kicking Coach, Coach Zac Roper. Coach Roper has the most knowledge and expertise about the kicking game as any special teams coach that I’ve seen in college football. I’m very confident that he’ll be a valuable resource in helping me achieve my ultimate goal of reaching the next level as a kicker."
Will Snyderwine, the current place kicker at Duke will be a graduating senior this year and was a 2010 first team All-American Kicker and semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award. Martin said he looks forward to continuing Duke’s long-standing tradition of producing top specialists.
Martin was arguably the most sought after and heavily recruited kicker in the nation for the class of 2012 and, in addition to Duke, his offer list included scholarship and Ivy League offers to the following DI schools.
OFFER LIST:
Texas
Northwestern
Pitt
Cincinnati
Rutgers
Iowa State
Kent State
Harvard
Cornell
Penn
Columbia
Dartmouth
In addition to the schools who already offered, many other colleges continued to show interest in recruiting Ross and had come to Walsh Jesuit for a high school visit and evaluation. Some of those schools included, Ohio State, Illinois, Notre Dame, Florida State, California, Stanford, West Virginia, and Virginia. However, once Duke officially offered, it was a “no-brainer” according to Martin.
“I’d really like to thank Coach Gerry Rardin, Walsh Jesuit’s head football coach, for all of his tremendous help, guidance, time, and support throughout my entire recruiting process," Martin said. "Knowing Coach Rardin, he won’t take any credit, but he definitely played an important role as an advocate in this whole process."
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