Bishop Gorman Gaels quarterback Tate Martell (18) lofts a pass to a receiver downfield as they practice route execution during a team practice at Fertitta Field.(Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
LAS VEGAS — A few ticks past 8 on a blistering summer morning, Tate Martell sits in his football coach’s office, the lights dimmed.
The quarterback is watching film with his backup, calling out reads and analyzing his own decisions from past practices. He points out that he didn’t square his shoulders during one play; on the next, he compares a read to one he made last season.
The offensive coordinator, Craig Canfield, clicks through each clip, quietly, allowing his pupil the chance to critique himself. The group lauds Martell’s touchdown passes — and should-have-been touchdown passes, were it not for an unfortunate drop or two.
The film session lasts 25 minutes, a precursor to a three-hour practice in the scorching desert heat here at Bishop Gorman High School, Nevada’s powerhouse football program with facilities that are the envy of lower- to mid-tier FBS programs.
FOR THE WIN
Meet the high school quarterback who could be the next Johnny Manziel
As Martell is about to head out to the field, Canfield reminds him: “Maintain energy — and lead by example.”
Bishop Gorman Gaels quarterback Tate Martell (18) calls out a play to his offensive line during a team practice at Fertitta Field. (Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
Neither comes difficult to Martell, a gregarious 17-year-old who’s confident in his ability to the point that some might call cocky. His work ethic backs it up; his teammates see that on a daily basis.
Martell changes his workout clothes and takes the field, spending the next few hours huddling, chattering, running drills and throwing passes. After a quick lift, he explains what it’s really like to be The Kid Who Committed To Washington At Age 14.
And how he’s not quite exactly who everyone thinks he is.
***
As a fifth grader, Martell didn’t simply dream of someday securing a college scholarship and suiting up to play on Saturdays.
That was too ordinary.
USA TODAY
2015 college football TV schedule
He dreamed of landing that scholarship, committing and seeing his name in headlines — all by the time he finished seventh grade. That particular idea took root firmly and quickly, right after he read an article about David Sills, who committed to Southern California and then-coach Lane Kiffin as a seventh grader in 2010.
“Oh, a seventh grader commits to USC and at first I was like, ‘What the heck? That’s crazy,’ ” Martell recalls. “And I remember saying, ‘That’s my goal.’ ”
Bishop Gorman Gaels quarterback Tate Martell watches video of offensive plays before a day of team practice at Fertitta Field. (Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
He soon achieved it. Martell verbally committed to play for Washington and then-coach Steve Sarkisian the summer before he entered eighth grade, more than four years before he could actually sign a national letter of intent.
Since then, Martell has developed into one of the nation’s top quarterback recruits in the class of 2017, a preseason American Family Insurance All-USA selection and a five-star prospect ranked 18th nationally at his position by Rivals.com. Martell has decommitted from Washington but still has the Huskies in his top five as he heads into his junior season at Bishop Gorman, which begins the 2015 season at No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports Super 25 high school football rankings.
And because of his size — Martell is 5-11, 180 — and his natural attraction to the spotlight, he has drawn parallels to Johnny Manziel.
Manziel’s alma mater Texas AM is one of five schools Martell is set to choose from on Thursday when he plans to announce his verbal commitment. USC, Washington, Michigan and Alabama are the others. Martell and his family say whichever he chooses, the decision will be final; he’s not going to reopen his recruitment.
All this talk about committing and college, however, has Martell thinking about what he went through at age 14.
“It’s not a bad decision because it helps you out. It gets you out there in the spotlight and stuff like that,” he says. “But I’m going to be honest: If I was a coach, I probably wouldn’t have offered it to me at 13 years old, 14 years old.
“There aren’t too many kids you can predict. I mean, I’ve seen kids that are 14 years old, they’re great, then they’re terrible in high school.”
Bishop Gorman Gaels quarterback Tate Martell tosses the ball while warming up for a team practice at Fertitta Field. (Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
That hasn’t been the case with Martell. He accounted for nearly 3,000 yards of offense and 45 touchdowns last season as Bishop Gorman won its sixth consecutive state championship and finished the season atop the final USA TODAY Super 25.
***
The backlash to Martell’s commitment at age 14 was swift and overwhelmingly critical. His parents remember being compared to the parents of Todd Marinovich, the former quarterback who drew national attention as a high schooler for his father’s stringent training and dietary regimens that led to Marinovich’s nickname, Robo QB.
“They said that that was what our family was, is that we made him into like this quarterback thing,” says Tafi Martell, Tate’s mother. “We always got that from people (early on).”
Tafi Martell and her husband, Al, say they never had to push Tate to play football. “If he didn’t get in the car, we weren’t going to make him go,” she says. “You let them figure out stuff, because that’s what you’re supposed to. Their life is not about me. I’m here to help them.”
Tate Martell started playing football at age 7 in the Mitey Mite division of Pop Warner football in San Diego. He started out as a left tackle, then moved to tight end and wide receiver before getting a chance to play quarterback.
Pretty soon his parents realized they had a special player in their household. Coaches of opposing teams would approach them to remark about their son after games. Other parents would do the same thing.
Bishop Gorman Gales quarterback Tate Martell works out in the gym to close out a day of practice at Fertitta Field. (Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
“Most kids don’t throw the ball in Pop Warner, they don’t play that way; they usually just do a lot of running,” his mother says. “When he was able to be a throwing quarterback, that was a huge deal in Pop Warner. He had a great time. He just loved it. I think Tate is a better person when he’s on the field. You know, he’s happier there, he’s calmer there.
“I was telling my dad the other day, I said when Tate, if he makes it in the NFL, I said he should build a football field and then put his house in the middle, because Tate’s, his aura, would be a lot calmer in life, he would just be a lot happier if he could just live there.”
As Martell’s father realized his son had a special talent, he also realized it was beyond anything he could coach. Soon after that, while playing in a summer travel league, Martell started working with Los Angeles-based quarterback guru Steve Clarkson, who eventually helped facilitate Washington’s offer. Clarkson still works with Martell when he’s back in Southern California.
Al Martell also says, looking back, he understands why others criticized the decision to allow his son to commit at such a young age.
“I wouldn’t say there was no downside,” he says. “It’s all just propaganda.”
Al Martell said he thinks because Sills committed to USC in seventh grade, Sarkisian was interested in making a splash, too.
“Okay, let me see this kid,” Al says, pretending to put himself in Sarkisian’s shoes. “Oh yeah, I’m going to get ESPN, I’m going to get Fox, I’m going to get everybody talking about this.”
Says Tafi Martell: “They were — in seconds. It was unreal.”
***
Martell, for his part, enjoyed the attention. He embraced it because he had no choice. Sometimes, he’d hear comments about how he wasn’t good enough to deserve the scholarship or the attention he’d received; that would bug him. But he liked it then — and still likes the spotlight now — even considering the negativity that comes with being in the public eye in a social media age.
“The only thing I’d look back (at) is managing the perspective,” Al Martell says. “Don’t forget where you came from. It’s a big deal, but it’s not. Don’t get carried away.”
Bishop Gorman Gaels quarterback Tate Martell, center, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson, lower left, make throws during a team practice at Fertitta Field. (Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
It can be almost too easy to get carried away by both praise and criticism with social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Fans and detractors are just a click away. Martell’s parents try to help him navigate the situation, and avoid losing all he’s worked for with one ill-advised post.
Martell loves social media, even though he freely admits he sometimes says things he shouldn’t, especially when someone takes at a shot at a teammate or his team, or goes after his younger sister, Rylee. He’s not afraid to tweet what he thinks, even if it’s not the most politically correct move. He likes to share family posts, too, celebrating his sister’s volleyball achievements or posting a picture from a speedboat to his 6,000 followers.
With his junior season at Bishop Gorman approaching, nearly all of Tate’s posts are football-related. Many of them are links to articles and media attention surrounding the start of the season.
***
Martell wasn’t Bishop Gorman’s starting quarterback this time last year. He was third-string, a transfer from Poway High School in Southern California, where his father has been a territory representative for a building company and his mother has worked her family’s business in non-hazardous nuclear radiation shielding. When they arrived at Gorman, their son had a name — he’d had that since age 14 — but his ability was fairly unknown to the coaching staff.
“We saw some youth film on him, but (that) football is a lot smaller, they’re a lot younger,” says head coach Kenny Sanchez, who was the team’s defensive coordinator last year. “Then when he got here, you realize right away that he had an arm. He could throw the ball, but there was a learning curve because he got here so late. He didn’t know the offense.”
In the second game of the season at Servite in Anaheim, Calif., Martell entered with his team trailing, 7-6, just before halftime. He provided an almost instantaneous spark, throwing for 152 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 110 yards. Bishop Gormon won, 48-27.
“It was my job to lose from there and help lead our team to a national championship,” Martell says.
Sanchez concurs. “That was pretty much it.”
Martell’s close friend and housemate, Tyjon Lindsey, also provided some sizzle for the Gaels last season after transferring from Poway. This season the duo is among the best quarterback-receiver pairings in the nation. Like Martell, Lindsey has his pick of top programs, too, recently securing an offer from Oregon.
By the end of last season, Martell’s stock had soared so high he wanted to reopen his commitment and see which schools — in addition to Washington, which honored the commitment after coach Chris Petersen took over in December 2013 — would be interested. Because Martell wanted to weigh all of his options, he decommitted in early January.
By July, it had become overwhelming. Martell had gone on visits; Martell had had calls with some of college football’s best coaches. He knew what personalities he clicked with, what culture he was looking for and how important facilities were. He’s figured out what he needs to know — whether he’d be able to compete for the starting job on Day 1 — when he evaluates a program.
Martell had what he didn’t have at 14: Perspective.
“With a decision like this you’ve got time to make sure it’s the right one,” his father says. “I think this one’s got to be right. You don’t want to, now it’s too late be playing, you know, commit, de-commit, commit, de-commit.”
Tate Martell insists he’s making the right decision this time — and that it’s going to stick.
“In a good way, he loves the attention,” Sanchez says. “It kind of drives him to work hard. He likes the reporters coming out. He likes the pictures. He’s a great kid. He gets a 3.5 GPA, he doesn’t getting trouble in school. He loves football.
“It’s all about the way you pursue it, right? He might come off as a cocky kid because he likes those kinds of things but it’s the way he pursues it with hard work. There’s nothing cocky about that.”
VIDEO: Bold predictions for 2015 college football season
UP NEXT
03
USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken gives five bold predictions for the 2015 college football season, including who will win the Mountain West Conference this year.
Article source: Article Source
The post High school QB could be next Johnny Manziel appeared first on .