Martell, One-Time UW Teen Idol, Still Looking for College Home

He was 14 when he committed to the University of Washington and Steve Sarkisian in 2012.

The story is still being written.

Tate Martell tweeted that the other day.

Well, it's turned into an-edge-of-your-seat mystery if not a romance novel — now stretching over nine years.

Will Martell ever find someone who loves him?

True happiness?

A center snap to call his own?

The suspense is killing us.

Tate Martell?

He was a short 14-year-old quarterback with the big arm who made national headlines in the summer of 2012 when he accepted a football scholarship offer from the University of Washington and coach Steve Sarkisian.  

At the time, just one younger recruit had been offered and committed. That was David Sills, a 13-year-old quarterback from Delaware who pledged to USC and Lane Kiffin in 2010, ultimately became one of the nation's better receivers while at West Virginia. 

Tate Martell?

After well-publicized but underutilized stops at Ohio State and Miami, this 5-foot-11, 205-pound athlete now sits in college football's transfer portal, so far unclaimed. After opting out of the recent pandemic season, he's a junior with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

A former 4-star recruit, he's exhibit A why the so-called rankings should be used as a guide, but not the absolute truth.

📸: @TheeMilla https://t.co/6tBNsPkDCJ

— Tate Martell (@TheTateMartell) March 18, 2021

On July 25, 2012, Martell was living in San Diego and getting ready to enter the eighth grade when he agreed to become a Husky. 

He mentioned how he was a big fan of former Husky quarterback Jake Locker, whom he had met after Locker joined the NFL's Tennessee Titans. He already was looking into UW classes. 

"I really didn't expect it to happen at this point, at how young I am," he told the Seattle Times. "It's just weird, weird, but really cool."

Martell and the UW, however, went their separate ways 18 months later when Sarkisian left for USC. It's not clear whether the kid simply backed away from his oral commitment or whether new Husky coach Chris Petersen urged him to keep looking. 

The Martell family would move to Las Vegas, where the quarterback would go 43-0 as Bishop Gorman High's starting quarterback. He passed for 7,507 yards and 113 touchdowns, and ran for 2,294 yards and 35 scores.

Multiple publications named him the high school Player of the Year.

He appeared on the reality show QB1: Beyond the Lines.

After committing orally to Texas A&M as a much older teenager, Martell switched his commitment to Ohio State and signed in 2017.

He appeared in six games for the Buckeyes in 2018 as a redshirt freshman. He completed 23 of 28 passes for 269 yards and a score.

Then it was on to Miami, where he appeared in seven games over two seasons, completing just one pass for a 7-yard gain in the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech.

Martell has been a wandering quarterback soul for four years now. He was all set to become a Husky because of Sarkisian, who since has coached at USC and been fired, been an assistant at Alabama and in the NFL and rebuilt his reputation, and now is the new coach at Texas.

Nearly a decade ago, Sarkisian was a huge selling point for the pubescent Martell, who's now the ripe old age of 23.

"Coach Sarkisian has such a good record with quarterbacks that it felt like it was a good spot," the kid told ESPN back in 2012. "Finally meeting with coach Sarkisian, it was really cool. He's a player's coach. He's a guy, that if you really needed to go talk to him about something, you can talk to him."

Well, he needs to talk to Sark about something. 

Martell should call up the coach and ask if he remembers him, then hold him to that scholarship offer. 

Tate would look good in Longhorn orange.

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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