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Auburn Football Recruiting: Will Travaris Robinson Help the Tigers Sign Martez Ivey?

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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Countdown to National Signing Day: 30 Days

There have been several changes on the Auburn football coaching staff recently, including the hiring of former Tiger and Florida defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson. With the move, T-Rob joins his former boss, Will Muschamp, at his alma mater.

“I’ve been watching them from afar throughout my time away and wishing them well,” Robinson said Sunday after the news of his return to the Plains was released. “Now, I’ve got a chance to give back to Auburn, a place that had done so much for me as far as my degree, as far as giving me a chance to coach, making me a man.

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“That’s a tremendous opportunity for me.”

It’s a natural transition for the 33-year old assistant, and it could pay big dividends on National Signing Day. 

After all, ESPN.com named him the best recruiter in the nation in June 2014, and over the years he helped the Gators land high-profile defensive backs like Vernon Hargreaves III, Marcus Roberson, and Jalen Tabor.

But, will the hiring of Travaris Robinson help the Tigers sign five-star offensive lineman Martez Ivey?

Ivey is the nation’s top recruit according to the 247Sports Composite, which takes into several recruiting websites and analysts into account in order to give a consensus ranking of the country’s best high school football players.

It’s easy to see why he’s so highly coveted. Ivey is a punishing blocker, and at 6-foot-6 and 270 pounds, is much more agile than your typical offensive lineman. You can see a glimpse of that ability in the following Tweet, which shows Ivey and high school teammate (and Auburn commit) Chandler Cox out in space and leading the way for a touchdown during Saturday’s US Army All-American Bowl.

Ivey is an Apopka, Florida native, and has long considered Auburn and Florida as his most likely landing spots. The 247Sports Crystal Ball projects Ivey will sign with the Gators with 80% certainty. However, Ivey has said in the past that it’s more of an even race.

“Fifty-fifty still,” Ivey told the Orlando Sentinel in December. “I’m going to think about it over this break … Christmas break. … This is what I need, this dead period that’s about to come up. That’s what I need right now, so I can think and see what’s right for me.

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    • “I got a feeling right now, but I ain’t willing to say. … We’ll see what happens.”

    Ivey was expected to announce his commitment at the US Army All-American Bowl Saturday, but changed his mind because he wants to complete his in-home visits with coaches.

    Among many recruiting analysts, this is a good sign for Auburn. Adding T-Rob is another positive sign for the Tigers.

    Robinson was not Ivey’s primary recruiter at Florida (Coleman Hutzler is listed on Ivey’s 247Sports profile) but T-Rob’s move to Auburn certainly can’t hurt the Tigers’ chances. It’s even possible that the Tigers have now moved ahead.

    And while T-Rob’s presence is great, it appears the most important Auburn recruiter is and always has been Cox – when it comes to Ivey, that is. Steve Wilting of 247Sports had this to say Monday morning:

    "Ivey told 247Sports he’s already visited with new Florida head coach Jim McElwain, so that means he’d like to give Gus Malzahn, “and LSU” a chance to come through.After all of these developments, one source that spent some time with Ivey at the Army Bowl thought it would be Auburn in the end, citing Ivey’s teammate in Chandler Cox, saying he believed the blue-chipper would go play with his “brother.”At the Top Gun camp this summer in Dublin, Ohio, players that hung out with Ivey thought it would be the Tigers in the end."

    With that in mind, chances are looking better and better than the Tigers could sign the nation’s best overall prospect. Doing so would be a huge boost to the Auburn football recruiting class that has been on the outside of the nation’s top ten (and therefore middle of the road in the SEC West) in recent months.

    Next: The Three Most Important Auburn Recruits of 2015

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