Tate Martell opts out at Miami and who knows what’s next for once-hyped QB

Tate Martell’s bizarre college football journey has added another chapter as he’s opted out of the 2020 season at Miami, leaving his future uncertain.

When we look back at the college football career of quarterback Tate Martell, there might be very few pages to thumb through. After transferring to the Miami Hurricanes from Ohio State prior to the 2019 and then being suspended for the first game of the 2020 season under Manny Diaz, the young signal-caller has made the decision to opt-out of the year, per Barry Jackson and Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald.

Martell arrived in Coral Gables last year with suppositions that he could be the team’s much-needed savior at quarterback. Instead, he not only failed to beat out Jarren Williams for the starting job but also by N’Kosi Perry for the backup spot. He then asked Diaz to be converted to wide receiver, another failed plight for the once-hyped prospect.

Given all the breakneck turns that Martell’s college football career has taken to this point, it’s truly up in the air what’s next for the redshirt junior quarterback. What’s clear, however, is that Martell has not come close to being what many expected him to be.

Tate Martell hasn’t even sniffed the hype that he once created — and probably never will.

Named the 2017 Gatorade National Player of the Year, Martell’s college football journey was a bit tumultuous before it ever began. Ranked as the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the 2017 class in the 247Sports Composite rankings behind only Tua Tagovailoa and ahead of Kellen Mond and Sam Ehlinger, Martell initially committed to Washington, then flipped to Texas A&M and then flipped again to Ohio State.

After his redshirt freshman season with the Buckeyes in 2018, Martell was the presumed next-man-up. But then Ohio State landed Justin Fields following his decision to transfer from Georgia. Ever confident, Martell infamously referenced Fields by tweeting “Don’t swing and miss… especially not your second time”. Fields didn’t miss as he won the starting job, thus leading to Martell’s decision to transfer to Miami.

Martell, however, did swing and miss twice. Unable to secure the Ohio State job, the Bishop Gorman product failed to crack the top two spots on the depth chart at Miami in the 2019 season and tried to transition to wide receiver. That too was an ill-fated attempt on his part and his venture from the spotlight to obscurity continued.

And now we won’t see him at quarterback or wide receiver for the Hurricanes in the 2020 season with his latest decision.

Will Martell transfer for a second time and try once more to live up to the very-real hype that surrounded him when he entered the college football ranks? Will he wait it out with the Hurricanes until after D’Eriq King is gone? It’s impossible to say with certainty, partially due to the lack of information but also because Martell’s college football career has been anything but predictable to this point.

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