A native of Fresno, California, Martinez's first visit after entering the transfer portal Dec. 2 was to Manhattan, Kansas. His girlfriend, Marisa Weichel, is a star soccer player for the Wildcats and their leading scorer.
Martinez, a three-time captain at Nebraska, is in the early stages of rehabilitating from a Nov. 24 operation on his right (throwing) shoulder. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound signal-caller suffered the shoulder injury Nov. 20 at Wisconsin and missed Nebraska’s season finale Nov. 26 against Iowa.
He has one season of eligibility left to play at the college level and also has a redshirt season at his disposal.
In his final start at Nebraska, a 35-28 loss at Wisconsin, Martinez broke the school’s all-time offensive yardage record, finishing with 10,792 to move past former quarterback Tommy Armstrong.
However, Martinez played the second half of the Wisconsin game with a shoulder injury suffered in the first half. Nebraska coach Scott Frost said NU wasn’t able to determine the extent of the injury at halftime, and Martinez played the second half through what Frost described as “clicking†in his shoulder.
He decided to take part in Nebraska’s Senior Day festivities before the game against Iowa just in case it was his last chance.
Martinez first won Nebraska’s starting quarterback job in August 2018, when he beat out Tristan Gebbia ahead of Frost’s first season as the coach. From there, he started 38 of the 44 games of Frost’s tenure over the past four seasons, with NU going 14-24 in those games. He missed one start due to a knee injury in 2018, two due to a left shoulder injury in 2019, two last year when he was benched in favor of Luke McCaffrey and NU’s season finale this year against Iowa.
He holds numerous school records, including career records for 400-yard offensive outings (five), 300-yard outings (19) and career completions (670).
In 2021, he set the school season record for total offensive yards per game (308), a number that checked in No. 2 in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and No. 15 nationally.
Martinez in many ways had his best statistical season this fall, averaging 9.4 yards per pass attempt and accounting for 27 touchdowns (14 passing, 13 rushing) against 13 turnovers.
Had he returned to Nebraska for the 2022 season, he would have done so with a familiar coach in Frost but a new offensive coordinator and new quarterbacks coach, plus, more than likely, more competition in the quarterback room than he had this past year.
The turning point in every Nebraska football game in 2021