Why Tate Martell to West Virginia makes sense

Tate Martell is the newest name in QB’s in transfer portal this offseason. The Redshirt Sophmore from Ohio State has a few options available to him but he appears to be gravitating towards Miami and West Virginia. It’s obvious that WVU needs another quarterback; depth at that position is abysmal and it appears gaining a transfer is Coach Brown’s best bet at filling the void that has been left since Will Grier’s graduation. Just why are the Mountaineers targeting Martell? There are plenty of reasons to want him, and there are plenty of reasons for why he may just be the next transfer quarterback to succeed at West Virginia University.

There’s no doubting Tate’s talent; the kid has proven that he has what it takes to be a great quarterback at the next level. His high school career was an impressive one, and there’s a reason he stood out enough to be on Urban Meyer’s squad at OSU. Martell moved to Las Vegas his sophomore year of high school where he attended Bishop Gorman High School. In his three seasons there he led the team to a 45-0 record as a starter. As if that wasn’t impressive enough in his senior year alone he had 41 passing touchdowns and 21 rushing touchdowns. That same season Tate was named the Gatorade Player of the Year and the USA Today Offensive Player of the Year. Listed as a Five Star recruit out of High School and the fifth best quarterback of his class, he’s since been buying his time for a starting job at Ohio State. Recently he decided to transfer out and was visiting Morgantown Saturday. The talent is clearly there; he was a high school standout and a versatile dual-threat QB that can cause chaos to defenses. So why would he want WVU?

First of all, Tate would have little no trouble gaining the starting job at West Virginia. Tate will want to transfer to a place where he can win the start right off the bat, and that is a very real possibility here. Second Tate will want to play in a system that he can flourish in. Under Neal Brown’s offensive guidance  Martell’s talent could produce results that would jump off the stat sheets.

Brown’s offense is a beautiful fast-paced orchestra that blends so many beautiful parts of the game. Incredible spread passing, hard nose running, speed and motion that confuse defenses all add up to producing numbers that result in wins. With Tate Martell taking snaps Brown and co-OC and QB’s coach Sean Reagan will be able to open up the playbook and wreak havoc on Big-12 defenses.

The last dual-threat QB to attend West Virginia happened to have some great success, and odds are if Martell came here he would light up the scoreboard. Nobody is expecting Coach Brown to turn this team into a national contender next season, however, with a great dual-threat QB at the helm, it would greatly increase their chances of keeping up with the high flying teams of the conference.

Kyler Murray absolutely devastated defenses this past season by using his arms and his legs. Under the right guidance, Martell has the skill set to expose the weaknesses in defenses and make every player around him better. Along with that, having a talented dual-threat QB confuses defenses by making linebacker’s and safety’s jobs more difficult by having to keep track of the run while also watching the backs and receivers. This opens up the field and makes it easier to get other aspects of the offense going.

At Troy, Brown had a 1,000-yard rusher three out of the last four years. He blends the Air Raid and the rush, and he does so very well. If Tate Martell decides to take his talent to Morgantown it could be very beneficial to him, Coach Brown, the program and the state as a whole. No one expects the Mountaineers to come out next year and be a big contender. However, if Tate comes there could be magic on the field and high numbers on the scoreboard.