NCAA grants Tate Martell immediate eligibility at Miami

Tate Martell announced his transfer to Miami a couple months ago, and now he’ll be eligible to play right away for the Hurricanes.

When Justin Fields announced he was transferring from Georgia to Ohio State, Tate Martell first defiantly welcomed the competition then announced he was transferring to Miami. He applied for a waiver to be eligible immediately for the Hurricanes, with Ohio State’s coaching change from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day as the apparent core of his case. On Tuesday, the NCAA granted the request.

Martell was a four-star prospect in Ohio State’s 2017 recruiting class. After redshirting that year, he saw little action as the backup to Dwayne Haskins last season. Haskins’ departure for the NFL opened up the starting job, theoretically at least, before Fields came in and was granted immediate eligibility himself.

Miami athletic director Blake James offered the expected statement on the decision.

"We are pleased with this ruling and appreciate the NCAA recognizing that this waiver met the criteria under the membership established guidelines. We would like to thank the NCAA, as well as Ohio State University, for their assistance and support throughout the waiver process. We look forward to seeing Tate compete for the Hurricanes this season."

Miami has had some erosion of their own quarterback depth chart, with Malik Rosier graduating and Cade Weldon set to transfer. So Martell will compete for the starting job with N’Kosi Perry (who started a number of games last season) and redshirt freshman Jarren Williams, as the presumptive front runner.

The NCAA has announced it will look to tighten up the relatively new waiver guidelines, which have opened the door for immediate eligibility to non-graduate transfers in way that makes it easy to see leading to full-on free agency in college football. So it looks like Martell will get the benefit of a big loophole, one that will be  likely be closed almost as fast as it came less than a year ago.