The Stanford Cardinal football team received their tenth verbal commitment of their 2012 recruiting class as Arizona linebacker/tight end Blake Martinez announced his intentions before the holiday weekend. Martinez is a three-star recruit as a linebacker but there is a decent chance he’ll play a little too-way football as a tight end for Stanford in the mold of recent graduate Owen Marecic.
The Cardinal interest apparently started out fairly lukewarm with a pretty standard visit that was not too flashy. However, after Stanford checked out his highlight reel, the Cardinal quickly offered Martinez a scholarship during their June 19 camp. Although Martinez considered waiting, he decided to commit to Stanford over offers from Oregon State, Boise State, San Diego State, San Jose State, and New Mexico.
Among inside/middle linebackers, the rising senior is ranked No. 27 by Scout.com, No. 34 by Rivals.com, and No. 29 by ESPN. He is not highly ranked as a tight end but was all-region as a tight end after catching 24 passes for 555 yards and 10 touchdowns.