Miami Hurricanes QB Tate Martell Opts out after first week suspension

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Tate Martell has opted out of the 2020 season following being suspended for the season opener per head coach Manny Diaz.

In another development in the dramatic career of Miami Hurricanes quarterback Tate Martell, the redshirt junior has decided to opt-out of the 2020 season. The decision by Martell to not play in 2020 comes after being suspended for the season opener against UAB on September 10. It likely brings an end to Martell in Miami.

The report that Martell would opt-out for 2020 came from the Miami Herald. This likely ends what has been a career that Martell never lived up to his potential on the field and had a lot of drama off it. Martell was an accomplished QB at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas where he played with Bubba Bolden and Brevin Jordan.

Martell was the 2016 Gatorade National Player of the Year. In 45 high school games from 2014-16, Martell threw for 7,507 completed 60.3 percent of his passes with 45 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Martell ran for 2,294 yards and 35 touchdowns and added seven 100 yard games. Martell was a four-star signee with Ohio State.

In the Buckeyes 2017 signing class, Martell was the 56th ranked player nationally and second-ranked dual-threat QB. After redshirting as a true freshman in 2017, Martell was 23-28 for 269 yards and one TD with 128 rushing yards and two TDs backing up Dwayne Haskins with the Buckeyes.

Martell transferred to Miami in January 2019 after Ohio State added former Georgia QB Justin Fields in the transfer portal. With the Miami Hurricanes, Martell was the favorite to be the starting QB. Martell was beaten out by redshirt freshman Jarren Williams to be the starter and redshirt sophomore N’Kosi Perry as second-team.

In five games in 2019, Martell ran seven times for seven yards and completed his only pass attempt for seven yards in the 14-0 Independence Bowl loss to Louisiana Tech. There was some thought Martell could be better suited to the new power spread offense Miami was installing for 2020 under Rhett Lashlee.

The suspension in the opener caused Martell to not be listed on the three-deep depth chart for the Miami season opener against UAB. Graduate transfer D’Eriq King played the majority of the game with Perry coming in late. True freshman Tyler Van Dyke has been listed as the third team QB for Miami’s first two games.

Martell was undefeated in high school but has not been able to translate that success to college. There has been no indication of what his next step is or if he is considering transferring. The best thing for Martell’s career at this point would be to transfer to a Group of Five or FCS school for the 2021 season.

The next step for Martell could depend on if he can secure a waiver to play next season. If Martell graduates this season as a fourth-year junior in eligibility he would have two seasons remaining elsewhere. One school to keep en eye on could be UNLV which would allow Martell to return to Las Vegas.