Three Major College Football Programs Lead for Nation’s No. 1 OT

The No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2027 recruiting class already has his eye on a select few programs.

A detail view of ESPN College Football logo on a TV camera prior to a game between. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

With the 2026 recruiting class in college football spoken for as signing day has come and gone, all attention around the sport has turned to the 2027 class of future stars.

Thousands of recruits across the country will see their processes ramp up as major programs make pitches to them about where they might fit, but there are a handful of recruits who will receive messages from just about every program imaginable.

One recruit to whom the latter sentiment applies is St. Thomas Aquinas offensive tackle recruit, Mark Matthews. Ranked as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the class and No. 2 overall recruit in the country by Rivals, Matthews has accumulated around 30 offers from notable programs such as Miami, Florida, Notre Dame, Nebraska and Ohio State among many others.

However, despite the laundry list of impressive college football programs that are after him, Rivals' Chad Simmons revealed that there are three schools that are currently leading the way for Matthews.

"The Hurricanes are certainly near the top, but Matthews says they aren’t the de-facto leader right now," wrote Simmons.

A view of a tv camera and the ESPN college football logo. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Simmons also highlighted two SEC programs that were in the mix, tabbing both Texas A&M and Georgia as possible landing spots for Matthews. When discussing Mike Elko's Aggies program, Matthews made it clear that Texas A&M envisions him starting right away.

"“A&M) wants to bring me in as a guy who can start early," Matthews told Simmons. "That’s what they’ve told me from the jump and that’s something I want to do."

When it came to the Georgia Bulldogs, Matthews emphasized the culture of winning that Kirby Smart has established.

"Just a winning team. I come from a very blessed winning school,” Matthews said. “Going from a really good head coach to another really good head coach…they want to go work every day and that’s what we do here."

It's unclear when Matthews will announce his commitment, but Simmons did confirm that other programs like Tennessee, Notre Dame, LSU and Oregon are all attempting to get into the mix. Matthews also expressed a desire to take five official visits, which essentially means that, barring a change, only two more schools have a chance to host him for a visit.

Matthews and St. Thomas Aquinas had a tremendous season this past year, as they finished the season 14-1 and won their seventh straight Florida state title with a 29-0 victory over Lakeland.