Ohio State Football: A closer look at quarterback Tate Martell

One bright spot on the Ohio State football team in the win over Rutgers was the performance of redshirt freshman quarterback Tate Martell.

Quarterback Tate Martell was exciting in the Ohio State football team’s rout of Rutgers Saturday. Dwayne Haskins Jr. is certainly the guy for this team’s offense right now, but the redshirt freshman Martell is worth keeping an eye on.

You can’t ignore his perfect passing accuracy on the day, but much of what he was doing right doesn’t show up in the numbers.

Martell ran a mixture of pocket passes, RPO, and bootleg passes. He looked most comfortable on the rollout plays but he still looked good in the pocket.

The first big play that he was a part of was early in the second quarter. It was a deep touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin on 3rd and 16.

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The play showed the vision and patience Martell has. He waited until just the right time in McLaurin’s route to step up in the pocket, allowing defenders on both edges to pass him, and threw the ball as the receiver was creating space.

Martell’s second series provided a better look at how he can grind down the field without the big play. He made accurate passes to both sidelines through coverage in the flats. When he wasn’t rolling out his delivery time was quick.

A standout play on this particular drive began again with a collapsing pocket. On first and fifteen, Martell stepped into the pocket and rolled right. He then showed great accuracy throwing the ball over a defender into an area where only his receiver could get to it.

Lastly, this guy has got some wheels. He led the team in rushing yards playing less than half of the game. Most of his pickups came on a couple of big-time gains.

Specifically, he ran for a 42 yard touchdown from a broken pass play. Once he committed to the rush, he made a spectacular cut to make a defender miss and took down the center of the field.

While there’s no reason for Dwayne Haskins to fear being replaced as the starter, it’s good to know there’s a talented player like Martell waiting behind him. It’s to Urban Meyer’s advantage as a game planner to have the flexibility of two strong quarterbacks with different styles as well.