UCLA Football Recruiting: Michael Martinez is Officially a Bruin

Michael Martinez, the nation’s number 16th-ranked tight end according to 247sports.com, and number 9th ranked tight end, according to Rivals.com, signed and submitted his National Letter of Intent today.

Chip Kelly is famous for the quote, “Big people beat up little people.” when summing up his recruiting philosophy in regards to recruiting size. Well, Martinez definitely fits the bill. Martinez is a 6’6” tall, 240 pound tight end from Santa Ana that attended the California high school football powerhouse, Mater Dei.

Martinez received offers from a number of schools, Alabama, Arizona State, California, and Colorado, but Martinez became an early UCLA commit thanks to the work of UCLA’s tight ends coach Derek Sage. Martinez made his commitment to the UCLA Bruins official on June 19, 2018, via his Twitter page.

Martinez finished his senior year for the two-time CIF Open Division state football champions, Mater Dei with 43 receptions for 661 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Martinez has all the tools to help continue UCLA’s history of exceptional tight ends and round into a complete tight end for the Bruins for years to come. Martinez played some tackle his sophomore year at Mater Dei which definitely gives him some beginning knowledge of blocking schemes on the outside of the line, which obviously translates to the tight-end position.

A few things stand out on the game film and one of them is the size of Martinez’s hands. The first catch in the highlight film below shows the ease in which he makes a beautiful one-handed catch. Multiple other plays also show how easy it is for Martinez to secure the ball with one hand. However, at the collegiate level, Martinez will also need to make sure that he secures the ball after the catch.

According to an interview done with Recruitingnewsguru.com, Martinez has a size 19 shoe and wears 4x football gloves.

According to ESPN.com, Martinez runs a 5.09 40-yard dash, a 4.54 20-yard shuttle run, and has a 27.1 inch vertical jump.

Martinez definitely doesn’t have the blazing speed, but on a 6-6, 240 pound frame his speed is sufficient and should get better as his training intensifies under UCLA coaches. His 20-yard shuttle run speed definitely shows that he has some quickness, which is a huge plus both as a blocker and a tight end.

Welcome to Westwood, Mike!


Go Bruins!