No. 1 College Football OT Recruit Announces Top 4 Schools

The most consequential offensive lineman in the 2027 college football recruiting class and one of the most important overall prospects is getting closer to a decision, and now a few elite programs appear to have positioned themselves for that moment.

Five-star Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas offensive tackle Mark Matthews has revealed his four finalist schools as he gets closer to revealing his commitment, with three SEC blue bloods and the College Football Playoff runner up firmly in the picture.

Who is Matthews considering?

No. 1 College Football OT Recruit Announces Top 4 Schools — Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

First among those contenders would be Miami as Matthews has shown interest in the hometown school which is coming off a narrow loss in last season’s national championship game.

And no other school comes close to its chances, according to the experts.

Miami is currently running away with Matthews when surveying the latest projections, with a 92.1 percent chance to earn the player’s commitment, according to the Rivals Recruiting Prediction Machine metric.

Matthews would be the Hurricanes’ most consequential recruit in the 2027 cycle, with the school ranking 8th nationally with eight commits, led by No. 6 wide receiver Nick Lennear.

But the SEC schools are still in the mix

Most importantly, Texas A&M.

Aside from the Hurricanes, the Aggies have been considered the other major contender in play for Matthews as he has taken an interest in Mike Elko’s program.

A&M jumped into the No. 1 position in the latest industry weighted national recruiting rankings after the landmark commitment of No. 2 ranked edge rusher Zyron Forstall.

Landing a prospect of Matthews’ caliber would only further entrench the Aggies’ claim to the top ranking, and the recruit has stated that his family likes the school.

Georgia and LSU round out the top four for Matthews.

Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs have two promising offensive tackles in No. 13 ranked Kelsey Adams and No. 40 player Ty Johnson, in addition to one five-star plus prospect in No. 1 ranked running back Kemon Spell in the sixth ranked class in 2027.

Lane Kiffin and LSU boast two potentially blue chip additions in No. 4 edge rusher Jaiden Bryant and No. 7 quarterback Peyton Houston, but no offensive tackles.

Mark Matthews' standing as a prospect

As it stands right now, no other offensive tackle is considered better in high school across the country.

And few players are thought to be better at any position in this class.

Among the most blue chip prospects in the nation, Matthews is rated as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the current cycle, according to an industry weighted average of the national recruiting services.

That average considers Matthews as the No. 1 overall prospect from the state of Florida at any position, and as the No. 5 overall prospect in the country at any position.

Matthews is listed as the top offensive tackle, the best player in Florida, and the No. 3 overall recruit in America, according to the industry generated 247Sports Composite.

Matthews is also a consensus five-star prospect and was elevated to the elite Five-Star Plus designation by Rivals analysts.

What does Five-Star Plus mean?

Basically, it means he’s a super recruit. Can’t miss. A generational talent. In theory, at least.

A five-star plus rating as devised by Rivals indicates that a prospect is not merely a five-star player according to their own recruiting analysts, but is also considered a five-star player across multiple major ranking services aside from Rivals, like 247Sports, ESPN, etc.

Such recruits score exceptionally high in the various combined industry evaluations and are considered the very top tier of the elite among high school football recruits.

Now that exceptional recruit is on the cusp of a decision that could impact the entire 2027 class, with four lucky finalists waiting to hear what he says.

(Rivals)