Tate Martell talks transfer from Ohio State: 'That was my dream school'
Ohio State players, including Tate Martell (18), prepare to take the field before the spring game on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. David Jablonski/Staff
Credit: HANDOUT
Sports | May 15, 2019
By Marcus Hartman
Tate Martell went from fourth string to second string to transfer in the span of less than a year at Ohio State.
Four months after landing at Miami (Fla.), the quarterback opened up to ESPN about his decision to leave for (orange and) greener pastures after Justin Fields arrived as a transfer from Georgia in January.
"Ohio State, that was my dream school," Martell said during an interview this spring. "I was sick to my stomach. There was almost a point where I was like, 'I'm going to roll the dice anyway' because I wanted to be there."
A five-star prospect at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Martell enrolled at Ohio State in January 2017, joining a quarterbacks room that also included J.T. Barrett, Joe Burrow and Dwayne Haskins.
"After being there for two years and not playing, I couldn't risk it anymore. There's a point where you love your teammates, you love everything about the school and the people there, but you have to start thinking about yourself and not doing it because these are my teammates. They all understood, and they weren't upset at all."
The story indirectly quotes Martell as saying he "was told toward the end of the season he would be better off finding another school," and he said he is thankful Ohio State did not stand in the way of his application for a waiver to play right away at his new school, which was granted.
"The good thing that happened was that I was told, so I wasn't in a bad situation. So that's the only thing I can say that was good about the situation is I wasn't lied to."
Reports Fields might be interested in transferring to Ohio State surfaced in December following the announcement Ryan Day would replace Urban Meyer as head coach in January.
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Martell told reporters at Rose Bowl media day in California he would take on and beat all comers in a quarterback battle to replace Haskins, but he left anyway after Fields' arrival in Columbus.
"Without getting too much into it, obviously we wish him nothing but the best," Day said Feb. 6 in his first press conference after Martell's departure. "Disappointed to see him leave, but he'll have a good career."
Marcus Hartman DDN