Miami Hurricanes will be part of 6-degrees of separation among transfer QBs

Tate Martell’s addition to the Miami Hurricanes roster from the transfer portal is part of a bigger picture among a plethora of transfer quarterbacks nationally. The process began with Washington QB Jacob Eason’s injury at Georgia in 2017.

The musical chairs at QB with multiple signal callers transfers throughout college football involves the Miami Hurricanes multiple times. The entire process began at Georgia during the 2017 season. Jacob Eason’s injury with the Bulldogs elevated Jake Fromm to starting QB with Eason missing the majority of the 2017 season.

Eason suffered a knee injury early in 2017. With Eason out, Fromm took the Bulldogs to overtime in the national championship game before losing to Alabama and fellow freshman Tua Tagovailoa. Eason transferred to Washington following the 2017 season. He sat out in 2018 as a transfer with the Huskies.

Eason is expected to be a Heisman Trophy candidate in 2018 and top NFL Prospect for the 2020 NFL Draft. Georgia signed QB Justin Fields in their 2018 recruiting class. Fields was widely considered the second best QB in the 2018 freshman class nationally behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence.

After not being happy with his playing time and citing a racial incident in Athens, Fields transferred to Ohio State this winter. After sitting behind J.T. Barrett and Dwayne Haskins the last two seasons Tate Martell expected to be Ohio State’s starting QB in 2019.

Martell initially said he would not avoid competition with Fields to be the Buckeyes starting QB. When Urban Meyer chose to retire as Ohio State’s head coach, Martell chose to transfer to join the Miami Hurricanes. New Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s new offense did not fit Martell’s skill set as well as Meyer’s spread offense did.

Back at Alabama, Tagovailoa had an exceptional 2018 season behind renowned QB whisperer and coach Dan Enos. Instead of choosing to stay in Tuscaloosa after former Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Mike Locksley took the head coaching job at Maryland, Enos accepted the offensive coordinator position at Miami.

In six degrees of college football separation, Fields left Georgia at least partially because he couldn’t beat out Fromm who lost to Alabama in the 2018 SEC Championship game with Enos’ tutoring Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts. Fields decision to land in Columbus influenced Martell’s move to Coral Gables.

If Fromm had beaten Alabama, Tagovailoa and Enos, would Miami Head Coach Manny Diaz still have been as impressed with Enos? The answer is likely yes after Tagovailoa and Alabama set passing efficiency records in 2018.

It’s tough to know for sure without Diaz saying what influenced his decision to want Enos as offensive coordinator. Tagovailoa’s emergence also caused Hurts who led Alabama for most of their 2017 national championship winning season to transfer to Oklahoma. Hurts’ transfer to Oklahoma cost the Sooners QB Austin Kendall.

Kendall who was waiting behind another transfer, Heisman Trophy-winning QB Kyler Murray, chose to transfer to West Virginia. The Sooners initially did not want to grant eligibility to Kendall with their Big XII rival. Kendall winds up in Morgantown where he will battle…former Miami QB Jack Allison.