Ivy plans WVU stop

West Virginia is targeting the tight end position in this current recruiting class as evident by a wave of recent offers at the spot including one to Chicago (Il.) Marist athlete TJ Ivy.

Ivy, 6-foot-5, 217-pounds, is an athletic tight end that could fill multiple roles on the offensive side of the ball and that along with his size caught the eyes of the West Virginia coaches. While Chicago hasn’t been a traditional recruiting territory for the Mountaineers, Ivy received an offer after speaking with Dan Gerberry, who was impressed with his junior film.

“It kind of came out of nowhere. He gave me a shout and told me that he loved my film. He likes my size at the tight end position and they think I can split out at the line, use me at full back or do a lot of different things at West Virginia,” he said.

While the offer came as a surprise, Ivy’s interest in West Virginia hasn’t been one. It was actually the junior tight end himself that prompted his high school coaches to send film to the Mountaineers and he has been impressed with what the coaches have done with pass catchers over the years.

“Honestly they run a lot of high tempo offense and they get the ball out. They can use a guy like me and can develop me and not try to mold me into something I’m not,” he said.

Even though the Mountaineers haven’t utilized the tight end spot heavily in recent years, Ivy sees the potential for a prospect like him at could end up in various roles.

“It’s a great school. They have the tools to do a lot of things and they know what they’re doing,” he said.

Ivy has yet to set a visit to West Virginia but does intend to make his way to Morgantown at some point in the near future listing his current interest in the program as “very high.”

Along with West Virginia, Ivy has collected offers from Illinois, Rutgers, Syracuse and Iowa State, among others and doesn’t list any favorites yet. However, he does admit that some of the power five schools have his attention at this stage of the game.

To date Ivy has made visit to Illinois, Tennessee, Indiana and Miami (Oh.) and plans to be busy in the coming weeks and months making stops at other schools before his planned decision sometime this summer. Overall, he has collected a total of 18 offers to this point.

Ivy plans to base his college choice on the school where he is most comfortable with the coaching staff as well as the academic side of things considering his father is a principal.

“I can’t stress academics enough,” he said.