The Miami Hurricanes have landed first team All-Pac 12 transfer running back Damien Martinez. The former Oregon State standout rushed for 1,185 yards and 9 touchdowns last season. Alex Donno breaks down the move.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Martinez, he became the top priority for Mario Cristobal,
00:05 running backs coach Matt Merritt,
00:07 offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson.
00:10 From the very second he entered the transfer portal.
00:13 Martinez, who was first team all pack 12 last year,
00:17 was deemed to be the best running back
00:19 in that entire offense.
00:20 One of the most productive running backs
00:22 in the entire country.
00:24 He checks off so many boxes, folks,
00:26 and what you would look at as a featured back.
00:28 In some ways, he's almost a throwback of, you know,
00:31 the days when we used to have true featured backs.
00:34 There aren't that many of those anymore these days.
00:36 Martinez stands six foot tall, 237 pounds.
00:40 So this guy can not only take punishment with that body,
00:43 durability is proven,
00:44 he can also dish out punishment, which is key.
00:47 So this past season, Martinez rushed for 1,185 yards
00:52 and nine touchdowns.
00:54 Over the past two seasons at Oregon State,
00:56 he's rushed for over 2,000 yards.
00:59 First team all pack 12 last year, as I mentioned.
01:02 And Martinez, or Dame as they call him, you know,
01:06 we talked about another Dame maybe coming to Miami
01:08 to play a different sport a little while back.
01:10 So we finally got a Dame down in South Florida, right?
01:13 He's not only the highest, Martinez, I should say,
01:16 averaged 6.1 yards per carry,
01:19 not only last year, but the last two years.
01:22 Now Miami's running backs last season collectively,
01:25 and it was a pretty good season for Miami's committee
01:28 of running backs last year,
01:29 collectively, they averaged 5.1 yards per carry.
01:33 Martinez was a whole yard over that last season.
01:36 And yes, Martinez, he's got all the traits
01:38 of a featured back,
01:39 which is exactly what he was at Oregon State.
01:42 This guy runs angry, he wears down defenses,
01:45 he runs North to South,
01:46 which is kind of a trademark of featured backs
01:49 in a Mario Cristobal offense.
01:50 When you think about, you know, what he had at Oregon,
01:53 and when he was at Alabama,
01:54 the types of packs they would bring in there
01:56 and would recruit there.
01:57 When we talk about wearing down defenses and running angry,
02:01 this to me, I already gave you his regular stats
02:04 from last year, Martinez, the nearly 1200 rushing yards,
02:08 the touchdown totals and all that.
02:10 But when you dig a little bit deeper,
02:13 there's a couple stats that really tell the story
02:15 for what kind of a back Martinez is
02:18 and what Miami's getting.
02:19 So 744 of his 1,185 rushing yards last year
02:24 came after contact.
02:26 That's more than half of those yards.
02:28 He forced 57 missed tackles, which is a big stat.
02:32 He averaged 3.82 yards after contact.
02:36 And how about this one?
02:37 'Cause people are always gonna wonder, well, hold on.
02:40 There's gotta be like, if you look under the rug,
02:43 there may be something there,
02:44 some stat that's not very good.
02:46 There's gotta be something on this guy.
02:48 He's only fumbled twice in the past two seasons.
02:52 So I know a lot of people, certain players,
02:54 well, he's a really good running back,
02:55 but he fumbles too much,
02:57 or he's got, you know, inabilities to catch footballs.
03:00 Martinez is also a pretty good receiver
03:02 out of the backfield, just so people know.
03:04 But only two fumbles over the past two years,
03:07 ball security was not a concern for this player.
03:10 And how about this one, folks,
03:11 for a stat that just goes to show you
03:13 the type of potential that Martinez has
03:16 in a Miami uniform this past coming season, right?
03:18 I mentioned 1,185 rushing yards last season at Oregon State.
03:23 You wanna know the last time Miami
03:27 had a single season 1,000 yard rusher.
03:33 I went season by season to see the last time
03:36 Miami had a guy in one year rush for over 1,000 yards.
03:40 The last time that happened in Miami,
03:44 Mark Walton, back in 2016,