PASADENA, Calif. — We came to say goodbye.
He came to say hi.
“I’m ready to go,” Ohio State quarterback Tate Martell declared at Rose Bowl media day on Sunday.
Where? Nowhere.
In a swaggering and defiant interview, the former five-star trophy recruit said he doesn’t care the Buckeyes are in the transfer market for a shinier new trophy to nudge him aside. (Wink, wink, Justin Fields.)
Martell announced he will return to Ohio State.
And, as long as Dwayne Haskins declares for the NFL draft, he intends to be the man.
How confident is Martell he will start in 2019?
“I’m 100 percent sure,” he said.
Guaranteed?
“Yep,” he said.
With that, Rose Bowl week — and the anticipated 2019 quarterback competition — just got a whole lot juicier.
To me, Martell is the most compelling figure on these Buckeyes.
The redshirt freshman came from Las Vegas with great fanfare, the biggest Sin City headliner since Wayne Newton. OK, that’s not a fair comparison. Newton didn’t go 45-0 as a prep starter, lead powerhouse Bishop Gorman to three straight national titles, and win USA Today national player of the year honors.
Martell was the highest-rated quarterback in Urban Meyer’s seven seasons in Columbus, billed by Rivals.com as the No. 39 overall prospect in the 2017 class — 14 spots ahead of some guy named Tua Tagovailoa.
The next big thing.
Until he wasn’t.
From the start, the 5-11 dual threat — who committed to Washington and Texas A&M before settling on Ohio State — has been the subject of transfer speculation, and now his future in Columbus is as uncertain as ever.
Even if Ohio State does not land Fields — the blue-chip Georgia freshman expected to be eligible immediately — Martell will have to beat out Matthew Baldwin, a 6-3 freshman hand-picked by incoming coach Ryan Day. If the Buckeyes do get Fields as expected, my assumption is/was Martell is gone.
Martell, though, said he’s ceding nothing.
He redshirted behind J.T. Barrett as a freshman, then sat behind Haskins this year. Now, he believes it is his turn, and given the platform to speak his piece, he did not hold back, assuring he can sling passes with the best of them, then slinging arrows, including at Fields.
“If someone thinks they’re going to walk in and start, it’s probably not going to happen, just from having to learn the offense,” Martell said, wearing a backward cap and a scarlet hoodie as he met with reporters in a tent outside the stadium. “[Day] has an NFL-type offense that’s difficult to learn. ... Why would I leave for someone who hasn’t put a single second into this program yet?
“I’ve put two years of working my ass off into something that I’ve been waiting for and dreaming of having my whole life. To just run away from somebody that hasn’t put a single second in winter workouts and doesn’t know what the program is all about, there’s not a chance.”
He added: “This dude [Fields] hasn’t put a single second into Ohio State football. I don’t know why somebody would think the grass is greener on the other side, but I guess he’s kind of looking at it like a fantasy.”
This came after Martell took aim at Fields in a hardly cryptic recent tweet, which read: “Word of advice: don’t swing and miss ... especially not your second time.”
Martell’s salvos struck me in part as a self-serving effort to make Fields feel less than wanted in Columbus, and they will be tossed back in his face if he ends up transferring, too. But they are also the stamp of a competitor frustrated by the arrows he has taken himself.
For all the questions I have about his arm — and as unappetizing as Ohio State returning to a QB run-heavy offense sounds — Martell wants to remind: “I can throw rather well.”
His 7,507 passing yards and 113 touchdowns in high school suggest he is on to something.
“When I go out there,” he said, “I’m going to put on a show.”
Which is to say, yes, Martell believes it’s his time, whether a big-time challenger rides in or not.
“It doesn’t change anything for me,” he said. “I love my team and my teammates love me. They know I’m a person that’s going to go out there and fight. I’ve been an underdog my whole life and I have no problem going out there and taking the job.”
We’ll see who swings and connects.
First Published December 31, 2018, 1:01 a.m.
