UofL Football has been looking many different places for quality QB depth. As it happens, an interesting name popped up this week in the famous “transfer portal.” A dual threat QB that was a highly touted prospect coming out of high school is transferring from his current university. That prospect is former Ohio State QB Tate Martell and he is scheduled to visit UofL, according to 247sports Steve Wiltfong.
Just added Tate Martell's visit date to #Louisville to the story: https://t.co/fkrpZ8sjD3 @jdemling @ITVHughes
— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) January 13, 2019
According to Wiltfong, Martell will be visiting UofL on Wednesday and Thursday next week. Miami and West Virginia appear to be the other serious suitors for Martell.
The 5’11 205 lbs Martell was a 4 Star prospect out of NV’s Bishop Gorman High School and ranked the 2nd best dual threat QB in the nation per 247sports. Martell was an Army All-American. He had offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Texas A&M, and UofL, but chose to attend Ohio State.
He redshirted his freshman year in 2017. Last year, as a redshirt freshman, he played sparingly backing up starter Dwayne Haskins. Despite his lack of playing time, his stats were still pretty impressive. Martell saw limited action in 6 games and was 23-28 (82%) as a passer for 269 yards and 1 TD. He also rushed 22 times for 128 yards (5.8 ypc) and 2 TDs. (All stats per sports-reference.com.)
His decision to transfer came after Ohio State picked up University of Georgia transfer Justin Fields. Fields was the number 2 overall player and number 1 dual threat QB in the 2018 class per 247sports.
Martell is a highly touted, extremely talented player that would likely have a chance to start as soon as he is eligible to. His arm talent is unquestioned. He can make every throw, with a great degree of accuracy on the run or in the pocket. His scrambling ability added to this makes him so very dangerous. If UofL can lure Martell into the fold, it would be a gigantic coup for Coach Scott Satterfield and staff.
