Miami Football: Is transferring again the answer for Tate Martell?

Tate Martell will not be the starting quarterback for Miami football but Jarren Williams will be. Despite this, transferring might not be the answer.

The fear I’ve always had with the new transfer rules have three names: Blake Barnett, Cooper Bateman and Keller Chryst. All three have ominous stories that no one should want to repeat.

Barnett, first an Alabama transfer, started his odyssey transferring out of Tuscaloosa and going to Tempe and competing for the starting job at Arizona State where he was beat out by Manny Wilkins. He then transferred to South Florida where he has been good, at best.

Bateman transferred from Alabama to Utah where he was beat out by Troy Williams and Tyler Huntley and never played Division I football again.

Chryst lost his starting job to KJ Costello and transferred to Tennessee. He was beat out by Jarrett Guarantano.

Someone needs to tell Tate Martell about these quarterbacks any maybe he’ll heed after hearing their stories. Only 20 percent of players who’ve entered the portal have found new schools. If he transfers there’s no guarantee that he’ll start wherever he goes. There were no guarantees going to Coral Gables.

The dangers of over-valuing oneself

If you look at the season that Barnett had at South Florida, you see why he couldn’t beat out Jalen Hurts. He was marginal, at best, throwing 12 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. Yes, injuries hampered his play, but he couldn’t have done for the Tide what Hurts did.

The fact that Bateman didn’t play a snap for the Utes is proof enough he wasn’t good enough to play for Alabama. LSU starting quarterback Joe Burrow brought toughness and leadership the Tigers desperately needed at quarterback, but he wasn’t statistically better than his predecessor Danny Etling. That’s why he never started for the Buckeyes.

There’s a reason neither Barnett, Bateman and Burrow (the alliteration isn’t lost on me) never started at their original universities. There’s an old adage: “The simplest answer is the best answer” and maybe — just maybe — Martell wasn’t good enough to beat out Dwayne Haskins at Ohio State and he wasn’t good enough to beat out N’Kosi Perry and Jarren Williams.

There might be many transfer possibilities for Martell this season or next, but maybe the best thing for him is to stay put, go to class, graduate and grow up, or he just might find out the hard way that he isn’t a big time college quarterback and have nothing to show for it.