Former Miami Hurricanes QB Tate Martell transfers to UNLV as expected

Former Miami Hurricanes quarterback Tate Martell has found a new home at UNLV. Martell is returning to Sin City where he played high school football at legendary Bishop Gorman. Martell had a legendary high school career at Bishop Gorman with former Miami tight end Brevin Jordan and safety Bubba Bolden.

Jordan signed with Miami in 2018 and recruited his former high school teammates Bolden and Martell to the Hurricanes during the 2019 offseason. Martell was highly publicized after a nearly mythical high school career with the Gaels. Following his transfer from Ohio State, Martell was never able to earn playing time with Miami.

Martell played in five games in 2019 before choosing to opt-out of the 2020 COVID-19 impacted season. Martell completed his only attempt for seven yards and had seven rushing attempts for a symmetrical seven yards during his Miami career. Three sevens are good in Las Vegas but were not good enough in Miami.

Former Miami Hurricanes quarterback Jarren Williams now at South Florida beat out Martell and another former Hurricane signal-caller N’Kosi Perry now at Florida Atlantic during August training camp in 2019 to be that season’s starter. Martell was relegated to third-string behind Williams and Perry and received scant playing time.

Inconsistent play by Perry, Williams and the failure for Martell to live up to oversized expectations led to Miami signing D’Eriq King as a transfer during the 2020 offseason. King more than exceeded expectations and produced as a dual-threat QB that many expected Martell would as a high school prospect in 2017.

Martell was the second-ranked dual-threat QB in the country when he signed with Ohio State in 2017. Bishop Gorman was 43-0 with Martell as its starting QB. Martell was a five-star high school prospect throwing for 7,507 yards, a 60.3 completion percentage and 113 touchdowns and rushing for 2,294 yards and 35 TDs.

At UNLV, Martell will have two seasons of eligibility remaining to alleviate what has been a label of one of the biggest busts in college football history. By any measure, the consensus of scouts missed on Martell. At Miami, Martell struggled with accuracy during practice. That failure is what ultimately doomed his Hurricanes career.