Ryan Day’s said it repeatedly: Ohio State doesn’t guarantee starting jobs to incoming transfers.
Still, with Tanner McCalister departing for the NFL and 2020 Freshman All-American Ja’Had Carter signing with the Buckeyes out of Syracuse, it certainly seemed likely that he’d step right into a first-team role at Ohio State’s nickel safety position.
But Cameron Martinez has other plans.
When Ohio State opened up its first spring scrimmage to media members on March 25, the often-overlooked Buckeye veteran dominated the nickel safety reps with the first-string defense. And unfortunately for Carter, a knee injury suffered in this past weekend’s open practice may limit his ability to push Martinez for the time being, even if it doesn’t end up being a long-term issue.
Martinez played the fifth-most snaps of any Ohio State safety in 2022, his third season in the program, and he might have played more if it wasn’t for his own injury issues – which weren’t widely publicized throughout the year.
“There's a lot of ups and downs. Week three, I had a sprained ankle, and it was kind of lingering for a few weeks, and I kind of reaggravated it again towards the end of the season, too,” Martinez said. “Never really felt 100 percent when I played, never felt the best. And I think that was something that had caught up to me towards the end as well. This year was kind of big for me just to be healthy and not be able to sit out, not sit out any practices or anything like that. But that was something that was wearing me down a lot last season, and it's just something that I'm trying to avoid and don't want to get back to again.”
Now healthy, Martinez said he’s picking up steam in the Buckeye secondary and that McCalister’s tutelage has helped him to do so over the offseason. Martinez said he doesn’t feel out of place taking first-team reps in practice and hopes to continue building confidence in the coming weeks.
“It feels really good. I think the main thing for me is just consistency,” Martinez said. “And just knowing that the confidence I have for myself too, I feel like I've been building that. I built that last year, building that again with just a second year under my belt with the defense and everything like that too. Tanner was a really good mentor for me as well. And I've been healthy this year, too. So I think just kind of putting all those things together, all the little things together, and just stacking each day, day by day. I feel like that's really the biggest things I need to work on this offseason.”
Martinez isn’t shying away from competition, either. Lathan Ransom said “coaches are pushing us harder than we've ever been pushed” this spring, citing the team goals Ohio State fell short of last season, and Martinez only confirmed that notion.
“It's competitive. One of the main emphases we've been big on is winning,” Martinez said. “Winning your competition. I think when you have a lot of competition like that, especially just in an individual room, I feel like that makes you better as a player and as a person as well. I think we all have a fire, a spark under us, especially with last year and stuff like that. So just going in every day, every practice and just taking a lot of stuff seriously and just knowing where we're trying to get to as well. How we want to be as a player and also how we want to be as a back end as well.”
According to Ohio State safeties coach Perry Eliano, who has now helped hone the Michigan native’s skills for more than a year, Martinez is flourishing in the highly-competitive environment the coaching staff has crafted this spring.
“He's kept his head down and worked. And when his number's called, he's made plays,” Eliano said. “One thing about here, there are no entitlements. Everybody's got to come to work every day. We've been competitive in everything we've done, whether it be academically in the offseason, in the weight room, nutrition, in the meeting room, everything. We're competing in every facet of our players' lives. And right now, he's thriving in that environment, and he's answering the bell. So he's got to continue to do that.”
Of course, his head-to-head competition with Carter for the starting nickel safety job is the most pertinent in terms of earning playing time. But to separate himself from the competition, Martinez must prove himself against perhaps the deepest wide receiver room in the country.
Some of Ohio State’s top slot options have been out entirely or limited this spring, but Martinez has his hands full nonetheless. Especially this past Saturday, when Marvin Harrison Jr. lined up in the slot for Brian Hartline’s offense.
Kyle McCord to Marv: pic.twitter.com/YZUoZgz5tK
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) April 1, 2023
But Martinez said his success against Ohio State’s star pass catchers has only helped him develop confidence this offseason.
“Anytime you're going against the best receiver in the country, and you're able to stop them and make plays on them, that boosts your confidence more than anything, for sure,” Martinez said. “But it's mainly just reps. I'm still fairly new at this position. I would say this is my fourth year going into it. I feel like each year has definitely progressed for me a lot. Spring ball really helps. Being able to come here practice one, nothing really felt like I had to have training wheels on or anything like that, taking the training wheels off. It was mainly just like a continuation for me from bowl practice. And that's kind of how I carry on to it.”
Having played multiple positions in the secondary in previous defensive regimes at Ohio State, Martinez is reaping the benefits of remaining in the same system for a second straight season. Martinez said he still has plenty to learn at the nickel safety position, and some of those growing pains showed up in big spots last season. But Martinez thinks the comfortability he’s built with Eliano and Jim Knowles’ system as a whole will allow him to “just play and just be myself.”
Eliano said Martinez’s increased knowledge of the system has been one of the biggest factors in his early improvement this offseason, along with his clean bill of health. Both variables may allow Martinez to remain Ohio State’s first option at nickel safety heading into the summer.
“Just the familiarity with the defense. To me, that's where it shows up the most, and Cam knows and knew that he needed to continue to get better,” Eliano said. “He was injured a few times throughout the season. So just when he felt that he was getting in rhythm, here comes the injury bug. So I told him, 'Hey, you got to stay on the field and keep working.' The whole process and the whole mindset and conversation all rumors, just keep your head down, and there's always room for improvement. Constant and never-ending improvement. That's our mindset. Keep your head down, block out all the outside noise and lock in and let's get better each and every day.”
