Tate Martell is now officially “Former Ohio State Quarterback Tate Martell.”
The redshirt sophomore announced that he will transfer to Miami.
His decision comes in the wake of another transfer: Justin Fields leaving Georgia for OSU.
Before the Rose Bowl, Martell told reporters that he was “100 percent” certain that he would win the Buckeyes’ 2019 starting job, with or without Fields. And he said in no uncertain terms that he had no plans to transfer.
“Why would I leave for somebody who hasn’t put a single second into this program yet?” he said. “I’ve put two years of working my ass off into something that I’ve been praying for and dreaming of my whole life. To just run from somebody that hasn’t put a single second into workouts or anything like that and doesn’t know what the program is all about, there’s not a chance.”
Less than two weeks later, he put his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Fields and Martell were on campus together at Ohio State for less than a week, but there was enough drama to fill a season worth of reality TV.
On December 22, Martell tweeted “word of advice: don’t swing and miss… especially not your second time.” At Rose Bowl Media Day, he confirmed the tweet was aimed specifically at Fields. Martell later deleted it.
He also said that if Fields did come to Columbus, it would have no impact on him.
“It doesn’t change anything for me,” Martell said. “I love my teammates and my teammates love me. They know that I’m one person that’s going to go out there and fight it out. That’s what I’ve always done and I have no problem doing it. I’ve been an underdog my whole life. I have no problem going out there and taking the job.”
When Fields arrived at OSU, he and Dwayne Haskins were seated courtside for the OSU basketball game against Michigan State. Martell watched the game from a different section of the arena.
Fields even followed Martell’s sister on Instagram, but didn’t follow Martell himself.
It all seemed to be shaping up to be an explosive mix in the locker room throughout spring ball. But that may have now been defused.
Just after midnight on Wednesday, Martell tweeted out the news that he was officially a Hurricane.
right back like we never left…
I’M A HURRICANE! ??? pic.twitter.com/6Dh0gu4fxD
— TATE MARTELL (@TheTateMartell) January 16, 2019
His departure leaves just three scholarship quarterbacks on the OSU roster: Fields, redshirt freshman Matthew Baldwin, and redshirt senior grad transfer Chris Chugunov.
Martell joins his former high school teammate, safety Bubba Bolden with the Hurricanes. Bolden just transferred to Coral Gables himself, after starting his career with USC.