Texas Football: Is there any bearing to Tate Martell-Longhorns transfer connection

Most of the bigger quarterback names hitting the NCAA Transfer Portal aren’t likely to end up with the Texas football program, including Tate Martell.

There will never be an off-season that will have more of a “free agency” feel to it on the transfer market than in 2019. Texas football is going to play a prominent role into the bigger picture impact across the country for the newly instituted NCAA Transfer Portal too. Between the rumors behind junior quarterback Shane Buechele potentially transferring out of the Texas football program, and what already happened in the quarterback room for this team, there’s a lot impacting the transfer market this off-season.

The two other Texas football quarterbacks that reportedly already put their names in the NCAA Transfer Portal are true freshman Cameron Rising and Casey Thompson. Next up in the Texas football quarterback transfer rumors is the Ohio State Buckeyes standout talent, and a Texas native, Tate Martell.

Moreover, Martell had one of the more interesting recruitment stories of the 2017 cycle. Texas football recruiting didn’t try too hard to pursue him, but the program’s current offensive coordinator did. At the time of his recruitment, Martell was heavily pursued by two well-known Ohio State assistants, Zach Smith and Tim Beck.

While Smith is well out of the world of coaching relevance in the college football landscape now, Beck is heading into his third year as offensive coordinator for Texas football. The connection between Beck and Martell still could be strong, but it doesn’t indicate that there will be any interest between the two parties.

What caused the transfer intentions of Martell in the first place was the transfer of former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Justin Fields to Ohio State. If Fields is eligible immediately and ready to make an impact with the Ohio State offense, he could have a set path to winning the starting job.

Following the departure of Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins to the 2019 NFL Draft, Martell was likely hoping the starting quarterback job was his for the taking. Now, it seems as if first-year Ohio State head coach Ryan Day could favor Fields to win the job over Martell.

And, with transfer news as big as Martell’s, there’s going to come the speculation of where he could land. According to Lettermen Row, Martell had a few schools mentioned among those that he could wind up with including the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins, and Oklahoma Sooners.

It would not be a good thing for Texas football, and other schools in the Big 12, if Martell lands with head coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners. But, there’s a path to Martell winning the starting job with the Sooners now since Oklahoma quarterback Austin Kendall also entered his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal.

The basis of this transfer rumor for Martell with the Texas football program originates between the connection for him and Beck and a list of potential transfer destinations for him from 247Sports. Martell had the Texas Longhorns listed as one of the 13 intriguing transfer destinations as to where he could land.

There’s a few reasons why Martell to the Horns could be a long shot. The first being the presence of rising junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger. The other main reason is that he has a host of options where he could go and start immediately that will pursue him harder than head Texas football coach Tom Herman. While the connection is there for Martell with the Horns, it’s not something that should or is likely to happen.