Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

What would Tate Martell mean for UNLV football?

Martell

Jay LaPrete / AP

In this Sept. 22, 2018, file photo, Ohio State quarterback Tate Martell runs against Tulane during an NCAA college football game in Columbus, Ohio. Martell says he is transferring from Ohio State to Miami.

The Tate Martell-to-UNLV rumor has been an underground storyline throughout the entire offseason, and now it appears it could be coming to fruition.

There has been no official word from Martell or the program, but according to multiple reports the former Ohio State and Miami quarterback is heading home and will enroll at UNLV. All we know is that Martell follows coach Marcus Arroyo on Twitter, as well as strength coach Matthew Fyle and several UNLV players — if you can put any stock into that.

Adding Martell would constitute a major roster shake-up at this point in the offseason, as the program prepares to open training camp in the coming weeks with three quarterbacks who participated in spring practice.

It has been a long, winding, circuitous road for Martell, who ends up back in his hometown, where he was Gatorade National Player of the Year as a senior at Bishop Gorman in 2016. Martell, a 4-star prospect at the time, led Gorman to a national championship while passing for 2,362 yards and 41 touchdowns. He also ran for 1,257 yards and 21 touchdowns, making him one of the most coveted dual-threat quarterbacks in his recruiting class.

Martell attended Ohio State as a freshman but transferred after he was beaten out for the starting job by Justin Fields. Martell moved on to Miami, where he was again beaten out for the No. 1 QB job and tried a position change before entering the transfer portal again this offseason.

For all the high school hype, Martell has attempted just 29 passes across three collegiate seasons, completing 24 of them for 276 yards and a touchdown. He has run for 135 yards and two scores.

This could be a seminal moment for the UNLV program, which hasn’t brought in a player who inspires this much hype in decades — if ever.

A look at what Martell’s addition could mean for UNLV:

All-time addition

The UNLV football program hasn’t suited up many players of Martell’s stature. Even three full years removed from his Gorman state championships and Gatorade POY award, Martell is still a big name in college football and still possesses a ton of potential.

A 4-star recruit in the Class of 2017, Martell was rated the No. 2 dual-threat QB in the nation by 247 Sports and had offers from all the blue-chip programs; he is the highest-ranked UNLV commit in the history of the 247 database, which goes back to the Class of 2000.

For a program coming off a dispiriting 0-6 season, this is the type of move that can energize the fan base.

Immediate starter

Scanning UNLV’s post-spring depth chart, one of the biggest weaknesses was at quarterback, where Justin Rogers and Doug Brumfield have limited experience — just a combined 44 all-time collegiate passes. That's why oddsmakers established the team’s over/under was set at 1.5 victories.

Even with Martell’s limited playing time at Ohio State and Miami, he has still completed as many passes at the collegiate level as Rogers and Brumfield combined. Given Martell’s profile and the state of the team’s QB options, it’s safe to declare the quarterback competition finished.

Expect Martell to be the No. 1 quarterback on the first day of training camp and to open the season as the team’s starter.

About-face for Arroyo

A month ago, Arroyo emphatically shut down any talk of adding a quarterback from outside the program, telling the Sun that there was no space on the roster for another passer.

He was locked into returning QBs Brumfield, Rogers and true freshman Cameron Friel.

“One of those guys has to be the starter,” Arroyo said.

That tune has changed completely, and credit Arroyo for being flexible. After last year’s 0-6 showing, Arroyo knows he can’t afford another winless campaign, so Martell’s talent won out over the existing plan of building around the incumbents. Assuming Martell can fit in off the field, there is no downside on the field.

There are still no open scholarships, so if Martell joins UNLV it might have to be as a walk-on.

Offensive fit

We haven’t seen Martell play much at the college level, but based on the old scouting reports he seems like the type of quarterback Arroyo covets. He can move the chains (and create big plays) with his legs, either on designed runs or broken plays, and he has the passing ability to unlock the entire playbook.

That may have been the most important consideration for Arroyo, as the offensive-minded coach admittedly had to trim his playbook last year in order to accommodate UNLV’s motley quarterback crew.

“We did a lot of things last year you had never seen in our offense because I do believe in trying to do something that fits who you’ve got,” Arroyo said.

If Martell can absorb the offense in training camp, Arroyo will no doubt be delighted to call plays without having to worry about whether his quarterback is capable of executing them.

Two-year plan

Though it might seem like Martell has been in college forever, he actually still has two years of eligibility remaining, so this is not strictly a stopgap move for UNLV. If Martell pans out — still an “if,” considering he hasn’t played full-time snaps since high school — it will be a huge boost to the program, since it would give Arroyo and his staff some breathing room to install their system, get it up and running and bring in another young quarterback behind Martell, either in the Class of 2022 or 2023.

UNLV already has a commitment from 3-star Liberty passer Jayden Maiava in 2023, so this plan is already in action.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

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