Tate Martell’s announcement that he was transferring to Miami from Ohio State brought a lot of excitement to the Hurricanes football program. Martell’s addition to the Miami Hurricanes has not all been smooth thus far.
Tate Martell’s addition was met by some with the assumption he would be the Miami Hurricanes starting quarterback in 2019. Returning QBs, rising redshirt sophomore N’Kosi Perry and rising redshirt Freshman Jarren Williams will also compete to be the starter for the upcoming season.
Perry and Williams outplayed Martell for most of the spring. It took Martell until the Hurricanes third scrimmage of the spring to display his talents as the nation’s fifth-ranked QB in the Class of 2017. Martell and Perry entered college ranked as dual-threat QBs while Williams was classified as a Pro Style QB.
Martell shined when Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Dan Enos put him primarily in the shotgun during the spring game which was Miami’s third scrimmage. In his first appearance in front of Miami fans, Martell went 4-11 for 78 yards with one touchdown and one interception at Traz Powell Stadium in Miami.
A week later the Miami Hurricanes football team migrated north to Orlando for the Spring Game. About 10,000 fans followed the football program to Camping World Stadium the site of Miami’s 2019 season opener against Florida. Martell was significantly better than the week before in South Florida.
Tate Martell look looking much better out of shotgun. N’Kosi Perry looking real good. Jarren Williams was just skipped in the qb rotation
— Susan Miller Degnan (@smillerdegnan) April 20, 2019
Martell was 6-10 for 154 yards and two touchdowns and added seven carries for 29 yards rushing in Orlando. He appeared far more comfortable in the shotgun. Martell was deemed as the heir apparent to J.T. Barrell and Dwayne Haskins as the QB at Ohio State. Ryan Day replacing Urban Meyer as head coach changed those plans.