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Ohio State Football: Tate Martell and the Untouchable ‘Super Demario’

By Charlie Lockhart

Oct 1, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Demario McCall (30) takes a handoff from Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Joe Burrow (10) during the fourth quarter against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won the game 58-0. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Demario McCall (30) takes a handoff from Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Joe Burrow (10) during the fourth quarter against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won the game 58-0. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports /
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During the Ohio State spring game Saturday, fans got their first glimpse at heralded freshman quarterback Tate Martell. They also saw that ‘Super Demario’ McCall is nearly untouchable.

Despite the fact the Buckeyes were playing something akin to touch football Saturday, especially early in the game, it didn’t matter much to McCall. When he had the ball in his hands, he just stayed out of the reach of defenders.

According to an article by Tim Daniels of Bleacher Report, McCall rushed 6 times for 83 yards on the day. His stats would have been even better if the defense actually had to bring him to the ground.

McCall would make a player miss, and then take off in a direction where there weren’t any other defenders, and he did so in a hurry too. I’ll bet the Buckeye defensive players just love having to watch game film of those plays. They shouldn’t feel too bad though, I think McCall could make somebody miss in a phone booth.

For good measure, the young running back caught 2 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. On his 40 yard TD catch on a wheel route, it was just McCall and the football. Buckeye fans are going to have fun watching ‘Super Demario’ during the 2017 season.

Ohio State fans finally got to see what QB Tate Martell was all about, and it didn’t take long to see that he will be fun to watch. He relieved Joe Burrow as the Scarlet team QB with the ball on the five yard line, and proceeded to take it in for a TD on his very first play in Ohio Stadium. His Army moves, left-right-left, allowed him to score untouched running between the tackles.

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Martell’s playing time was limited but there were two other plays that stood out to me. On one of them, he dropped to pass but saw a crease in the middle and took off. He then took it to the outside for a 15-20 yard game.

Martell showed a Russell Wilson type of ability on the play, and the Seattle Seahawks quarterback’s intelligence as well. He chose to run out-of-bounds at the end of the play instead of getting the tar knocked out of him by going for the extra yard.

Then on an option play, Martell waited until the last second before he flipped the ball to a running back with just his wrist and it barely cleared the hand of the defender. Every quarterback who has ever ran the option knows, if it wasn’t for Martell having strong hands he wouldn’t have made that play, and it could have gone for six points the other way. Overall, it was a short but impressive debut for the young man.

Well, these are two players who appeared to be untouchable in the Ohio State Spring game Saturday. The young QB Tate Martell who Buckeye fans will enjoy watching again sometime down the road. And Demario McCall who has the potential to be a regular on SportsCenter pretty soon.

Next: 4 Star Recruits Push 2018 Class to No. 5

I for one hope to see ‘Super Demario’ touch the ball at least 15 times a game during the 2017 season. That would be worth the price of admission, wouldn’t it?

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