Better Know a Buckeye: Tate Martell

This week's Better Know a Buckeye feature continues with a profile of Tate Martell, a quarterback from Las Vegas.

Martell enrolled at Ohio State as possibly the most decorated high school prospect since Terrelle Pryor, accruing multiple national awards on offense and even two major national player of the year awards. However, his recruitment was not exactly linear or simple. He was committed to Washington before he started the eighth grade before decommitting when Steve Sarkisian left and Chris Peterson did not show the same interest. He switched to Texas A&M before he got wooed by Ohio State. He switched to the Buckeyes on June 12, 2016, pledging to his "dream school" where his father and grandfather once graduated.

I retell this story below. Thereafter, I provide a lengthy scouting report of a quarterback prospect who already appears to have mastered important advanced elements to playing quarterback at a high level. I propose a redshirt is almost certain before providing senior-year highlight film of Martell at the end of the feature.

HIS RECRUITMENT

Tate Martell, unlike high school teammate and Ohio State signee Haskell Garrett, does have a family connection to Ohio State. Most of his mom's family still lives in Ohio and are big Ohio State fans. His father and his grandfather are Ohio State graduates, making Tate a third-generation Buckeye. Though Ohio State had not successfully recruited a prospect from Nevada to Ohio State prior to the 2017 recruiting cycle, it was not necessarily a difficult sell for Martell to sign with the Buckeyes.

However, Martell's path to Ohio State was circuitous. Ohio State is actually the third FBS program to which he committed prior to signing with and enrolling at Ohio State.

It starts as early as seventh and eighth grade. Martell was still living in San Diego prior to his move to Las Vegas when he emerged as a YouTube sensation in the junior high football circuit. Scouts in the area built up his reputation via word of mouth, and YouTube, before Sarkisian, then Washington's head coach, saw enough in these videos to offer Martell a scholarship before Martell had even completed middle school. Martell committed to the Huskies in July 2012, prior to the start of his eighth grade year.

"Coach Sarkisian has such a good record with quarterbacks that it felt like it was a good spot... Finally meeting with coach Sarkisian, it was really cool. He's a player's coach. He's a guy that, if you really needed to go talk to him about something, you can talk to him."

This naturally failed to hold. Sarkisian left Washington for USC in December 2013. Petersen, who replaced Sarkisian in Seattle, was not as interested in the services of a high school freshman as Sarkisian was. Martell decided it was time to play the field a little bit more and decommitted from Washington on Jan. 5, 2015.

A slew of offers followed thereafter from big-name programs like Alabama, Michigan, and Texas A&M. Martell settled on Texas A&M on Aug. 20, 2015, before the start of his junior year. The reasons for the decision were straightforward and any write-up about the Texas A&M decision alluded to Johnny Manziel as soon as it could. Martell expresses a polite irritation at the comparison but the styles of play are similar. Kevin Sumlin's offense captured lightning in a bottle with Manziel but struggled (still struggles) to find a quarterback like him after Manziel left the Aggies for the NFL. Martell thought he could fit well with what Sumlin designed for Texas A&M and offered a verbal pledge.

However, Texas A&M's football fortunes continued to dip, suggesting the Aggies' struggles were less about momentary recruiting misses or bad luck and were more about something structural to how the coaching staff ran the program. Jake Spavital, who replaced Kliff Kingsbury as Texas A&M's offensive coordinator, parted ways with Texas A&M after the 2015 season. Martell remained committed for the first five months of 2016 but was privately interested in other options.

That other option became Ohio State. Ohio State's coaching staff, via Zach Smith, identified Bishop Gorman's 2017 senior class as worth the effort to recruit even if no player from the state had signed with the Buckeyes in the known history of Ohio State recruiting dating to the early 1970s. Smith first arrived in Las Vegas to establish himself with Bishop Gorman's best players at the end of 2015. It was enough to grab the attention of Haskell Garrett, who committed to Ohio State site unseen on Feb. 10, 2016. Garrett planned an unofficial visit the next month to Ohio State to see it for himself. Martell, who listed an Ohio State offer, planned to take an unofficial visit in March as well.

Ohio State's interest in Martell came at the same time the Buckeyes began to lose interest in the quarterback Ohio State already had in its class. Tom Herman was responsible for recruiting Danny Clark to Ohio State when Clark was a high school freshman. Subsequent evaluations of Clark by Meyer and new quarterback coach Tim Beck behooved both to think of adding another quarterback to the class. Ohio State's coaches identified Martell as the one they wanted.

Six weeks after his unofficial visit, Martell decommitted from Texas A&M. The writing was on the wall thereafter. Martell had been open about his family connections to Ohio State and Ohio State's position as "dream school." He acknowledged Danny Clark's presence in Ohio State's recruiting class but reiterated he was not afraid to compete with him for playing time on the roster. Martell made a return visit to Ohio State on June 11, which was enough to end his recruitment.

HIS COMMITMENT

Tate Martell committed to Ohio State as the 10th member of what would become Ohio State's full 2017 recruiting class. He chose the Buckeyes over every other program of consequence, prominently California, Texas A&M, and USC.

Martell's decision reiterated Ohio State's status as dream school and, like the previous two commitments profiled in this series, one of the best programs in the country for preparing young athletes for the next level.

The decision did set off an interesting chain of events, some of which even solicited some national attention. Texas A&M wide receivers coach Aaron Morehead subtweeted, "I feel sorry for ppl who never understand loyalty. I can't really even vibe with u. At the end of the day trust is & everything else is BS." This set off a firestorm of criticism, prompting several recruits to drop Texas A&M for further consideration. One of those recruits, Tyjon Lindsey, landed at Ohio State before switching to Nebraska closer to signing day.

Clark saw the writing on the wall and re-opened his recruitment before signing with Kentucky. Tate Martell enrolled at Ohio State in January as the only quarterback in the class.

WHERE HE EXCELS

Tate Martell enrolled at Ohio State as possibly the most decorated high school prospect since Terrelle Pryor. The U.S. Army All-American won national player of the year awards from Gatorade and MaxPreps. He's also a first-team USA Today All-American and USA Today's Offensive Player of the Year. A quarterback for a prep talent machine at Bishop Gorman, Martell did not lack exposure nor competition from the best high school football players in the country. He enrolled at Ohio State with a unique set of credentials that most players will not have.

Martell has only improved in the areas that made him a YouTube sensation as a junior high student. His improvisational skills are amazing. I struggle to think of a quarterback in the past few recruiting cycles that is better than Martell in this respect. This is worth mentioning first because this is an advanced skill that Martell learned early into his development. Most "dual-threat" quarterbacks are athletes that panic after the first read or the first breakdown in protection, using their athleticism to run for positive yardage. They have to be taught to keep a play alive with their feet to find a second or third receiving option.

Martell thrives when a play breaks. He looks more than comfortable baiting a linebacker in coverage into thinking he's going to run past the line of scrimmage, sucking in corners and safeties whose eyes are peering into the backfield, only to shake loose one of his star-studded receiving options for a big play down the field. There's the obvious qualifier that even the meager competition Martell would face while at Ohio State (e.g. a MAC team, Illinois) is going to be far faster than even the best competition Martell saw in high school. Still, Martell played everyone at both Poway (where he was prior to his sophomore year) and Bishop Gorman. He played against Servite (CA), Centennial (CA), St. John Bosco (CA), Chandler (AZ), Bellevue (WA), Long Beach Poly (CA), Don Bosco Prep (NJ), Cedar Hill (TX), and St. Thomas Aquinas (FL). Those aren't exactly scrubs.

His height belies his vision, in a good way. Despite his small stature, Martell does not play like he can't see past the line of scrimmage. His vision is excellent, even selecting on four-star and five-star All-American quarterback prospects.

I'm struggling to think of a kind of throw in which he is not at least great. He can stretch every bit of the field. He perhaps most impresses on the touch he shows throwing a wide receiver "open," leading them from the cornerback and to an open spot (especially on a busted play).

It's hard to write an evaluation of Martell that doesn't lead to a conclusion of how complete he looks in almost every way. He goes through multiple progressions on his reads when most quarterbacks, even good four-star dual-threat quarterbacks, struggle to get through one. He's composed too. He acts as an extension of the coaching staff on the field and in the huddle. He impressively "looks off" defensive backs, deceiving play side corners that the ball is not coming their way with his eyes and a slight shrug of his shoulders. He shows great legerdemain on option running plays, doing well to deceive defensive ends the ball is going to the back before ripping it out and running for positive yardage.

MUST WORK ON

If you were to confidentially ask Ohio State's offensive coaching staff to describe Martell, their remarks would likely be glowing but end with a hopeless wish that he was three or four inches taller.

Height will always be a lingering issue, not that Martell could do anything about it. He's been the same listed height since he first became a word-of-mouth YouTube sensation in seventh grade. The height issue may manifest itself as a "magnifier," in essence if Martell is struggling (as he understandably has in his first few practices), to adapt to the increased speed and intensity of major college football and how much bigger and taller everyone is. Still, he's effectively the same height as Troy Smith or Johnny Manziel. At least in terms of college experience, that would be amazing company for Martell if his collegiate career resembled theirs.

The size issue manifests itself elsewhere. Martell should focus on building lower body strength if the idea is this is a certain redshirt year for him. True football strength comes from the lower body, even for quarterbacks. This should be a point of emphasis for Martell in 2017.

One important point: Martell will need to keep that ball tucked a lot higher and tighter when he's scrambling than he currently shows. Given his size, he's a prime fumble risk until he addresses that.

As far as dual-threat quarterbacks go, Martell is not exactly the best runner. I actually think this is a subtle strength of Martell as he learns how to use it. The ceiling for Martell in the ground game as option quarterback is a keeper who could gain a solid four yards before running out of bounds or sliding to avoid an unnecessary hit. He could occasionally break a long run, the kind of debilitating bust for a defense that is already overstretched trying to contain Martell in other respects. However, he's not an elite runner and Martell could learn how to use that to his advantage. If Ohio State's coaches and Martell worry that size could be an issue, Martell should learn to master this part of the running game (i.e. understanding when he can't gain any more positive yards without a hit).

REDSHIRT?

This is a certain redshirt year for Martell, as well as an interesting conversation about what happens next when Barrett graduates. Ohio State's coaches like Joe Burrow. They really like Dwayne Haskins too. Emory Jones comes in next year and the coaching staff is keen on him.

HIGHLIGHTS

Here are senior-year highlights for Martell.