One play — and one that technically didn’t happen — proved Tate Martell’s value vs. UF
The influence of Tate Martell at wide receiver was most felt on a play that never happened.
The Miami Hurricanes led the Florida Gators by three in the third quarter of their opener with the ball at their own 41 yard line and sent Martell in motion from the left side of the formation to the right. Jarren Williams took the snap as Florida’s deep safety shifted to follow Martell toward the boundary side and the quarterback handed the ball to Cam’Ron Harris. The running back ran 57 yards to the left through a vacated half of the field.
Flags flew which prevented Miami from moving into the red zone, but it was another instance in when Martell’s presence at his new position could simply not be ignored.
“He’s a threat,” Manny Diaz said Monday in Coral Gables. “There’s obviously a lot of creativity we can do with him. There’s things that didn’t even get called in the game, so there will be more to that, but he’s a guy that — I think if you’re playing defense — you’ll want to know if he’s on the field and you’ll want to know where he’s aligned because that can make you change your game plan pretty quickly.”
Martell didn’t catch a pass against the No. 8 Gators — he wasn’t even targeted — but he did play 15 snaps in Orlando, more than all but three Hurricanes wide receivers, and ran once for negative-1 yard on his lone snap as a quarterback.
Martell, at least right now, is more than a once-in-a-while gimmick for Miami. The redshirt sophomore, who spent all spring and summer competing for the starting quarterback job, is an integral part of the Hurricanes’ offense.
Does Diaz consider him a wide receiver, though?
“I don’t know. That’s a good question,” the coach said. “We classify him as ‘Tate.’”
Martell is still listed as a quarterback on the Hurricanes’ roster. He still took one snap as a quarterback, albeit for a designed run. He didn’t actually run many routes despite how frequently he was on the field.
At practice Tuesday, Martell once again donned a white jersey and ran through drills with the wide receivers during the portion open to the media. According to Diaz, the move to wideout was Martell’s idea and he has found an unexpected way to contribute to his new team.
He even played a key role in Miami’s final touchdown of its loss to Florida last month. Early in the fourth quarter, running back DeeJay Dallas took a direct snap with Williams flanked out wide to his left and Martell as the lone wide receiver to his right, but before he did Martell motioned from the right side of the formation to the left. With him, defensive back Marco Wilson followed.
As Dallas took the snap, the Gators’ nickelback slid from the middle of the field to the edge of the formation, hoping to contain a potential outside run right by Dallas or maybe chase down Martell. With the middle of the field open, Dallas headed straight forward, bounced to his left and no Florida defender could get a straight-on shot at the halfback as Star cornerback C.J. Henderson and fellow defensive back Shawn Davis stuck near the sideline to account for Martell. The junior rumbled 50 yards to give the Hurricanes (0-1) a late lead at Camping World Stadium.
“He stretches the field. He’s fast, he’s explosive,” Dallas said. “When you put another athlete like that — like Jeff Thomas, Mike Harley and those guys, add Tate to that bunch — you’ve got a big, explosive group.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2019 at 2:04 PM.