Tate Martell Says Ohio State Told Him To Transfer
Miami quarterback Tate Martell was once known as the four-star, dual-threat quarterback who was next in line to become a star at Ohio State. But in January, coach Ryan Day lured five-star, dual-threat quarterback Justin Fields away from Georgia after just one year with the Bulldogs.
At that point, Martell announced that he was leaving the Buckeyes program. He didn’t leave because he saw the writing on the wall, he did so because that writing was apparently dictated to him. Martell said the Ohio State staff told him what his next step should be after the season wrapped up.
“The good thing that happened was that I was told, so I wasn’t in a bad situation, he said. “So that’s the only thing I can say that was good about the situation is I wasn’t lied to.”
Well, this looks like just another classic case of The Ohio State University doing the right thing. Other schools would’ve played cat and mouse with Martell, keeping him through Spring Ball and getting him to suit up for the Buckeyes for a couple early season blowout games before ultimately deciding to go with Justin Fields. Keep the quarterback room’s depth strong. But once again, the Buckeyes have proven that they put people before winning, and they told Tate Martell his chances of playing in Columbus were slim to none, even if it was his “Dream School”.
“Ohio State, that was my dream school,” Martell told ESPN. “I was sick to my stomach. There was almost a point where I was like, ‘I’m going to roll the dice anyway’ because I wanted to be there. After being there for two years and not playing, I couldn’t risk it anymore. There’s a point where you love your teammates, you love everything about the school and the people there, but you have to start thinking about yourself and not doing it because these are my teammates.
This makes me like Tate. It really does. He’ll be like Joey Burrow down at LSU. I’ll cheer for him every week unless he’s playing the Buckeyes. But aside from that, this quote also confirms what I’ve been saying for years. It takes a very special talent to play quarterback at The Ohio State University. In the past couple of years, our 3rd stringer won a National Championship, another one of our 3rd stringers became an immediate successful starter in the SEC, and now another 2nd or 3rd stringer has walked down to Miami and to become the face of the program. Oh, and Matthew Baldwin is going to start at TCU soon. So I don’t know how else to explain it to you guys. Ohio State is just…….different.
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But in all honesty, I’m really impressed with this decision to tell Tate Martell the cold hard truth, especially from a 1st year coach like Ryan Day. Ryan Day NEEDS to win this year. I don’t care what anyone else says. Urban Meyer was 73-9 at Ohio State, and Day has a roster filled with his guys. The talent is there…and he needs to prove that he was the right choice. If Ohio State had opened up their coaching search, they would have gotten much, much bigger names than someone who has never held a head coaching position. Does that mean I don’t like Ryan Day? No, I really like him. Our offense looked incredible when he was at the helm during Urban’s 3 game suspension this year. But he needs to keep the ball rolling or he’ll be known as the guy between Urban and the next guy. I won’t even be happy with 9-3. That’s a bad year in Columbus. And Ryan Day is apparently putting all his eggs into the Justin Fields basket to win now. That’s not a bad basket to have eggs in, though.