Martell chose UM because of Hurricanes’ history of ‘swagger’ MLB seeks control of local networks
Tate Martell, it’s safe to say, wanted some attention from the Miami Hurricanes in the spring before his senior year at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.
A four-star quarterback in the 247Sports.com composite rankings, Martell had just decommitted from the Texas A&M Aggies and took the next step in his recruitment by releasing a top seven in 2016.
Almost inexplicably, Miami was on the list. The Hurricanes hadn’t made an offer to Martell. The coaching staff, Martell said, had never even reached out to him.
“That was my way of trying to get them to talk to me,” Martell said Tuesday. “I put Miami in my top seven without even talking to them because I wanted to come here.”
It took him 21⁄2 years, but the Hurricanes finally gave him attention this winter when he put his name into the transfer portal in January. Immediately, star tight end Brevin Jordan, who played with Martell in high school, became the conduit between Martell and the new coaching staff, connecting the 5-11, 210-pound quarterback with coach Manny Diaz, who lined up a visit. Less than a week after Martell’s name popped up in the portal, he announced he would transfer to Miami.
This wasn’t — and it still isn’t — the end of Martell’s story, though.
On March 19—the first day of Spring practice—the Hurricanes announced Martell had been cleared by the NCAA to play immediately in 2019, so now he battles N’Kosi Perry and Jarren Williams for the starting quarterback job.
On Tuesday, Martell spoke to reporters for the first time since he arrived on campus to discuss where he feels he fits in the spring competition and how he was drawn to Miami in the first place. Answering questions about the second part was simple.
“The history and the swagger,” Martell said. “That’s kind of what intrigued me from the jump.”
Questions about the first part remain a bit more complex.
Through four practices in 2019, it’s clear the quarterback competition is as wide open as Diaz always suggested it would be. All three scholarship quarterbacks have had their moments in practice and all three have struggled.
Martell’s, perhaps, have been most heavily scrutinized because of the profile he brought to South Florida. This is the quarterback who was featured on “60 Minutes” when he was 14, then the subject of “QB1: Beyond the Lights,” a Netflix documentary series, when he was a senior in Las Vegas. He was a high school AllAmerican and won the national Gatorade Player of the Year award.
He knows he needs explanations for why his passes, at least in the limited portions of practice open to the media, have looked inaccurate and wobbly. Right now, he said he’s relearning how to play from under center.
“For me, the hardest thing is I haven’t done anything under center since sophomore year of high school,” Martell said. “That’s why I’ve been staying after practice to work on that stuff with footwork under center... Today was my best day by far because of just being able to put a little bit of extra work into it, and coach [Dan] Enos gave me pointers.”
Which explains the biggest reason Martell wound up choosing the Hurricanes. The rising redshirt sophomore made his announcement just five days after Miami announced it hired Enos as its offensive coordinator.
Even though Martell had his sights set on the Hurricanes immediately, he did need to visit Miami to be sure the Hurricanes “checked off all the boxes.” This meant he needed an extended meeting with Enos before his January visit.
What Martell saw: “It’s a West Coast passing system. Under center, shotgun — you have it all in this system. You can go pull up clips of any pretty much NFL system and you’ll see a lot of it that’s in this system.”
What it meant: He was ready to become a Hurricane.
“That was pretty much the deciding factor,” Martell said. “I was able to tell Coach Diaz by the time I left here that I wanted to come because that’s the biggest part for me.”
Williams and Perry also spoke for the first time in the spring Tuesday. Here’s some of what they had to say about the trying 2018 season and the 2019 quarterback competition:
Williams, on why he reportedly nearly transferred: “It was an interesting year, but I’m here this year. I’m glad I’m here. I love my brothers and I’m really just focusing right now on 2019.”
Williams, on why he decided to stay at Miami: “I never wanted to leave. That’s never anything you want to do. I love my teammates to death, I love the coaches, I love the atmosphere, I love the fan base. I love it here.”
Perry, on what he learned from a controversy-laden 2018: “I definitely learned from it and I understand that it wasn’t acceptable for me and especially for my teammates. I feel like I disrespected them and I let them down, so I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Perry, on whether he still feels like a starter: “I definitely see myself as a starter, and a big difference for me than last year is I feel like I’m a lot more mature on and off the field. I know how to work with guys. Like my teammates, if they need help with anything they can come to me.”
Major League Baseball hopes to gain control of local broadcasting agreements involving its teams, the reason behind its bid to purchase regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Co.
Disney acquired 22 RSNs as part of its $71 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment business this month, and the Justice Department said last June that Disney had to sell the networks as a condition of the deal.
“There’s tremendous revenue disparity in our game, and I think that if we had more of a national model closer to where the NFL is it would solve a lot of those competitive issues for us, kind of level the playing field.” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday.
“I think that all of the difficult issues for baseball, if you took that revenue disparity out of the picture, would be easier.”
The New York Yankees have a right of first refusal to buy back control of their YES Network and have arranged partners for their own deal. MLB wants to purchase the remaining networks.
“Strategically, it would be a very interesting move for us,” Manfred said.
ELSEWHERE
Indians: Shortstop Francisco Lindor’s recovery from a strained right calf muscle has been set back by another injury: a sprained left ankle. His expected return in midApril may be pushed back.
Padres: Fernando Tatis Jr., the No. 2 prospect in baseball, is on the Opening Day roster. Tatis, 20, will start at shortstop alongside to third baseman Manny Machado.