Oliver Martin in the Transfer Portal
2017's banner four-man wide receiver class is about to be down to three.
Can confirm that #Michigan WR Oliver Martin has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal; full story: https://t.co/8MzpUg1OR5 pic.twitter.com/fOAgmmsxvk
— Steve Lorenz (@TremendousUM) June 5, 2019
The hot stove boiled last week with rumors of Oliver Martin contemplating the decision he has apparently made. The heat was turned down a bit after offensive coordinator Josh Gattis posted a photo three days ago of his receivers at dinner that included Martin, but he has since decided to see whether his football future lies elsewhere. Martin redshirted 2017, so he'll have three years to play wherever he ends up.
Martin was rarely utilized last season--he finished with 11 catches for 125 yards--but came in with a reputation for laser-like route-running that presaged big things in the slot, especially considering the strengths of class mates Donovan Peoples-Jones, Tarik Black, and Nico Collins. Enter Mike Sainristil, who garnered a freight train of hype in spring ball while Martin received little mention in press conferences, and Martin must have seen a quicker route to the field away from the guy being tabbed an instant-impact freshman. At least we'll always have this.
Good luck to him at his future stop. Hopefully he ends up running to something rather than away from something.
Lol Webb, paying for insider info is so worth it
I don't pay for anything but was thinking the same after seeing some of his tweets. Didn't he say Martin was getting more reps than Sainristil? We all know it's part of Sam's gig to do right by the program, truth be damned, and it seems pretty clear he was trying to cool down the hot stove rather than provide good intel. As though keeping fans of this kid's back for another day or two could keep him here.
I always thought Sam was way more connected with Michigan recruiting than in the actual team itself?
That sounds about right. As much as I hate him, umbig11 offers more than Sam in terms of "inside the program" type of info. Sam does seem more connected with recruiting which I guess is fitting since he is on 247.
Just curious...how can you "hate" a commenter here? Particularly one who seems to be trying to "help" with info?
.....
.....
.....
(Thinks of WD....never mind, carry on)
His accounting of what happened is exactly the same as Allen Trieu's I don't see what the problem is.
The problem is that he isn’t a reporter, he’s a mouthpiece for the program. It obviously provides some value to know what the program wants to link but his “access” is dependent upon not reporting what the program doesn’t want reported which is a massive hole and makes his info and inside access mostly worthless from a true value perspective. He’s state media. Nothing wrong with it but no sense it paying for it either
How exactly does Webb saying Martin wasn't transferring benefit him or the program. People didn't have a problem when Webb was the only one hinting Dax Hill was going to flip back from Bama last year. People hear what they want to hear.
Because the staff probably din't want to Martin to transfer and having a bunch of turds on twitter shitting on the kid while he was still making a decision can't have helped. Sam is there to help manage the type of turds who tweet at recruits, that is his role.
The more plausible explanation is that Sam reported what he knew and that Oliver Martin is a typical twenty-year-old i.e. unpredictable and not prone to disappointing his friends/teammates and coaches.
Exactly. Case in point Sam said no decision had been made but everyone assumed that meant he wasn't leaving when in fact it could just have meant that Martin wasn't sure yet.
he reported on what was then the 'current status', not make predictions of what martin might do or not do.
he reported what had happened, not what would happen after.
Right? Who would pay for inside info if the insider can't even read other people's minds or predict the future?
Sam is usually deadly accurate.
He basically said the same thing as everyone close to the program, so not sure why anyone would feel he isn't connected or was inaccurate.
Of course he has to put a rosie spin on many things, but his information is on point.
I pay $4.48/month for Sam's and Steve's and Allen's and Steve's and Josh's and Brice's reporting and inside information. It's 100% worth it.
No one knows everything and from the sound of it, he told the coaches he was staying and then didn't show up for a couple days, then texted them that he was leaving. So the coaches didn't even know. The kid either did a complete 180 in 24 hours or lied to the coaches, not sure how you blame Sam for that. LINK
I guess we could pretend that Sam is usually wrong. It's not true but whatever right.
Pretty disappointing. Sounds clear he wasn't gonna see the field here but I could see him finding success elsewhere. Back to Iowa perhaps?
My only thing is next year. Johnson is the only WR on the team over 6'0" tall outside of DPJ/Collins/Black and for some reason all 3 might be entering the draft early (though I don't quite know how).
Bell and Kent are 6'0", GJIII is 5'11", Sainristil is 5'10", and Jackson is all of 5'8". I know they want some slot type guys with the new offense, but who is going to line up on the outside across from a sophomore Cornelius Johnson?
Doubt we lose all 3 and Martin isn't exactly filling a tall/jumpy guy role Gattis apparently wants in the mix. Regardless, he would have been in good shape on next year's depth chart and agree that we might be missing him.
Yeah, a lot of people keep saying that all 3 could leave, but I still can't make sense of that. If 1 stays they'll have the 2 outside guys, but nothing after that really.
I know Mratin isn't the prototypical outside WR, but he's bigger than the other guys on the roster at the moment.
Gattis WRs come in three flavors:
- Big-body jump ball guys for deep shots (Collins, All)
- Very fast medium-range WRs (DPJ, Black)
- Twitchy slots (Sainristil)
RBs and TEs are kind of TBD. Wouldn't shock me to see transfer portal guys from those position groups. Hoping DL works for a guy like Mason otherwise could see him transfer as he likely wants to make the NFL at his natural FB position. Gattis has no role for a true FB.
There will definitely be more attrition as the frosh show up and get traction ahead of guys like Martin. Kind of sucks to lose good players due to fit issues.
If all 3 go pro it means we have a top 10 offense, I’m willing to live with that.
bama also didn’t have a wr over 6”1 last year, it’s fine
Not at all. DPJ and Black will go no matter what kind of season they have. That's the way things go with the draft these days.
Good question. Doesn't seem like a whole lot of planning is going into roster construction at the moment.
Yeah, I'm sure that's the answer.
You sound an awful like 1201.
It's Maizen!
We better not approve a transfer to Iowa. I hope he ends up in the MAC (assuming he goes through with transferring).
Schools no longer have the ability to block transfers. If he wants to go to Iowa, and Iowa has a spot for him, he can go to Iowa.
Why? Let him move on. Best wishes.
Because we play Iowa and having someone on their team that studied our offensive playbook seems... not great.
But if he goes to Iowa anyway and doesn't play, he can't share the playbook anyway (if he was inclined to do so)?
If this is a playing time transfer, then making it clear that Michigan is going to do everything it can to make sure he sits a year IF he goes to Iowa might change his mental calculation.
Fuckity fuck fuck fuck
plus tax
Did something change or doesn't he have only two years left of eligibility if he leaves? It's five years to play four. So, if he redshirted 2017, played 2018, and has to sit 2019, that only leaves two more years no?
He'd still have three years if he transferred down. I'm guessing that won't happen, but that third year hasn't technically been lost yet. Also, we've seen enough of the NCAA to know that some sort of sixth year waiver is always a possibility.
WR Corp must be pretty stout to make him feel he'll have more success somewhere else.
This isn't a surprise. There was plenty of smoke.
Well ... rats. Martin was one of those players I was making a point to watch and track his progress. I had hopes he'd be one of those slippery receivers that are so fun to watch.
Not shocking given change in offense and influx of speedy talent. He is more of a route running possession type receiver and not a great fit for speed-in-space or the big body jump-ball guy. Wish him great luck as he seems like a great kid.
What the heck? Martin isn't the third coming of Drew Dileo; he was a four-star, top-250 with a SPARQ of 133. For some reason that athleticism hasn't translated to on-field productivity but all our touted receivers had the same problem coming in; they couldn't get open ("freshman receivers are bad"). The weird thing is that some of them improved whereas Martin hasn't. But the guy's more athletic than our prior route artisans, so if he's not getting open enough then either he got out of shape or it's his routes.
Oh well.
I think the lesson here is that Sam Webb blows smoke
Maybe his gut was just telling him to take some pepto bismol.
Or maybe Oliver Martin's parents were blowing smoke? ?♂️
He'll have a spin like "I never said 100% he'd stay. Only that if something changes he may look to move on."
That "if something changes" will give Sam the flexibility he'll need to back track.
Oliver Martin wins the 2019 Freddy Canteen award for hyped slot ninja with good footwork who gets buried on the depth chart and transfers.
Good like Oliver, I always had high Hope's for you.
Martin was never a slot ninja, he is your classic precision route artisan for the classic West Coast offense. That throw back Michigan, USC or Stanford teams. Would also thrive at Iowa or MSU. His choices will be limited in this spread-happy era of college football.
Indeed. Martin was ranked in the top-50 (!) in his class by 247--and in the top-200 of the composite--and was the #1 player in the state of Iowa. He was really polished, showed amazing hands at camps, and many thought him to be superior to some of the other talented receivers that we grabbed in 2017.
Freddy Canteen had a cool workout video.
[To be fair, Canteen was eventually a four star, but if remember correctly he played for some strange football-focused high school that actually didn't play many official games because of scheduling problems; but maybe I'm misremembering.]
Bummer. Martin had a lot of hype and he seems to have the skills. Harbaugh was right to give the keys to Gattis this year after last years waste of offensive talent. It's good that we have a lot of slot guys now, but sad we never got to see Martin utilized. Looking forward to #speedinspace
Comments