Ohio State Football: What can we expect from Cameron Martinez?

The Ohio State football program officially announced the signing of athlete Cameron Martinez to its 2020 class, so what can we expect from Martinez?

Four-star athlete from Muskegon, Michigan, Cameron Martinez officially signed with the Ohio State Football program on National Signing Day on Wednesday. Martinez will most likely be the Buckeyes’ only signee to actually sign on NSD this year.

Martinez is the 14th-ranked athlete in the country according to 247Sports and is the seventh-ranked overall recruit out of Michigan. While being listed as an athlete, Martinez saw a lot of success at quarterback throughout his high school career.

Martinez, Michigan’s Mr. Football award winner and Michigan’s Gatorade Player of the Year award winner, went 48-4 in his career with two losses coming in the 2018 and 2019 state championship games. According to Eleven Warriors, Martinez ran for 6,343 yards in his career which is the 11th-most in Michigan High School Athletic Association history.

Despite the success at QB, Martinez is expected to play defensive back for the Buckeyes. The team’s Twitter account even listed him as a DB in his introductory video on Wednesday. So, him staying on as a Buckeye even though co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley left to become the head coach of Boston College was a really big accomplishment for this team in this 2020 recruiting class.

This is what Eleven Warriors had to say about Martinez and him playing at DB despite having a lot of experience at quarterback.

"He may not be completely comfortable yet in playing defensive back, where he projects best to the safety spot, but Martinez is nevertheless budding with potential. Simply put, he’s a dynamic football player who showed an ability to play fast, explosive and balanced throughout his prep career. He has a high football IQ, so learning quickly won’t be an area of weakness."

With Ohio State bringing on Kerry Coombs to replace Hafley, I have no doubt Martinez will become a star at defensive back. Coombs, who previously was Ohio State’s cornerbacks coach from 2012 to 2017, helped develop NFL stars in the secondary that include Denzel Ward, Marshon Lattimore, Gareon Conley, Eli Apple and Bradley Roby.

Martinez is certainly in good hands.

Signing athletes sometimes comes with question marks and while that is somewhat the case with Martinez the reward is much higher than the risk. He is a top-notch athlete and he will be coached by top-notch coaches. Welcome to the Buckeye family Cameron Martinez.