Ohio State Football: What happened to former Buckeye QB Tate Martell?

Former Ohio State backup quarterback Tate Martell was electric during limited time on the field last year. What’s going on with him now?

Remember at the end of 2018 when there was a battle for quarterback at Ohio State between Justin Fields – if he could get immediate eligibility – Matthew Baldwin and Tate Martell? Well, that battle never happened.

Fields was granted eligibility and became the clear front-runner to start for the Buckeyes, Martell left for Miami and Baldwin went to TCU.

While it’s easy to bask in the glory of Fields breaking ankles on runs and dropping dimes through the air, Ohio State was a “not immediately eligible” ruling away from having Martell behind center for the 2019 season.

So, what has Martell been up to at Miami?

The short answer is not much.

When Martell first got to Miami he was put in yet another QB battle. Why one would leave one battle for another is a different question.Ultimately he ended up losing out to redshirt freshman Jarren Williams.

Martell then tried to transition over to wide receiver to get more playing time and make an impact for the Hurricanes. That hasn’t gone as planned either.

On the year, Martell’s stat line reads 0 passing attempts, 0 receiving yards and two rushing yards on two attempts. He has continued to practice with the quarterbacks and wide receivers but has not seen his practice result in increased playing time.

The lack of playing time has led many people to speculate if Martell would transfer again in order to find a situation that presented an easier road to a starting spot.

In a 247Sports article, it was reported when head coach Manny Diaz was asked about the former Buckeye QB he praised the positive strides Martell is making.

"“Tate loves Miami…He loves it here. We love Tate. Tate is a hard-working guy, one of the hardest-working guys in our program. He is learning the nuance to playing wide receiver because there is a lot to that, but he is also a team guy that can jump right back in and take snaps at quarterback, which is what he has done a week ago. I just think Tate is enjoying being here, enjoying being in our program, and just be on a winning team to do whatever it takes to help us win.”"

While we may see more of Martell in future years – either with Miami or on a different team – with him buried on the QB depth chart and still learning the nuances of WR it remains unlikely we will see any  highlights from him this year.