Just a few days after landing Justin Fields from Georgia, Ohio State quarterback Tate Martell has entered his name in the transfer portal.
Justin Fields is in and Tate Martell could be out.
Ohio State’s quarterback situation took another turn on Thursday morning with the news that Martell entered the transfer portal, days after Fields officially transferred from Georgia.
Martell is now free to be contacted by other schools, but it doesn’t guarantee that he will transfer from Ohio State. However, it does indicate that he is exploring his options after his path to the starting job was met with a giant roadblock in the form of Fields, the No. 2 recruit from last year.
Prior to Fields making his announcement to transfer, Martell was quick to brush off any outside competition and believed he would be the starter after putting in the work the last two years. Fields is seeking immediate eligibility by the NCAA, forcing Martell to look over his shoulder right away.
Martell was rated by Rivals as a four-star, dual-threat quarterback coming out of Bishop Gorman, a powerful high school program in Las Vegas. He saw limited action in 2018 backing up Dwayne Haskins. The California native appeared in six games and threw for a total of 269 yards and three touchdowns.
If Martell were to leave Ohio State, the two schools who have been mentioned the most as potential landing spots are Miami and West Virginia. Miami freshman tight end Brevin Jordan was on the same team as Martell during their time at Bishop Gorman so there is a connection there and former Gorman alum Bubba Bolden just transferred to Miami from USC.
With the Hurricanes’ struggles this past season under Malik Rosier and N’Kosi Perry, in what was projected to be a good follow-up season, Martell going to South Beach would make a lot of sense for the quarterback-needy team under first-year head coach Manny Diaz, who is also in the market for Alabama transfer Jalen Hurts.
West Virginia is entering the Neal Brown era and just lost one of the best quarterbacks in program history with Will Grier off the NFL. The Mountaineers have a laundry list of signal-callers entering 2019 with Jack Allison, Trent Jackson and Trey Lowe III competing for the starting job. Adding Martell, even though he’ll have to sit for a year as a transfer (without a hardship to petition the NCAA), could definitely help West Virginia ease into a new era and stay competitive in the Big 12.
Nothing has been finalized yet and Martell could choose to stay, although that appears unlikely. He is talented enough that if he stays at Ohio State and beats out Fields, or if Fields is ineligible, he could lead the Buckeyes to the Big Ten Championship.
Wherever Martell goes, he’ll be productive and help his team win a lot of games.