K-State QB Martinez Hopes He's Left the Mistakes Behind at Nebraska

ARLINGTON, Texas – Kansas State has a really talented team and is a very live candidate to be back at AT&T Stadium on the first Saturday in December to play for the Big 12 Championship. Deuce Vaughn is one of the most electric skill players in college football. Malik Knowles and Phillip Brooks can catch the football and the Wildcats have two returning offensive tackles including Cooper Beebe. The defense has valuable pieces, but the X-factor in the Wildcats potential title run is transfer quarterback Adrian Martinez.

The three-year starter for Nebraska had a losing record as a starter despite 8,491-yards passing and almost 11,000-yards of total offense with a combined 80 touchdowns. He was an offensive machine, but unfortunately he was a fumbling machine as well. The NCAA record for lost fumbles is 21. Martinez has 28 career fumbles and 16 of those were lost. He could get close to that record this season.

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Martinez holds a number of Nebraska records. 

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and new offensive coordinator Collin Klein are banking against it.

“Well, the thing that drew us to him was the amount of games he has played at Nebraska,” Kleiman said when asked about the athletic Martinez. “If you get around Adrian or you visit with Adrian, the first thing that jumps out at me is his maturity and what a grounded individual he is. I've been so impressed with him as a person, as a man of faith, as somebody that came in and missed all the spring because of an injury he had. He practiced the last two practices, but just watching him bond with the players, watching him build relationships during the time when he couldn't be out front leading after a workout or after a practice, and now to see him going through the summer where he is cleared and healthy and watching him just kind of command the room, he's a tremendously mature individual that brings out the best in everybody. That's what excites me about him. But what drew us to him was obviously his games played and his maturity.”

I asked Martinez about having the opportunity to go from Nebraska and then finish his career at Kansas State. When the Huskers were in the Big 12 those two schools had become bitter rivals. Now, Kansas State is the chance for a fresh start for a talented quarterback that has never measured up from a team wins and losses standpoint to what is expected.

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Martinez displayed a good sock game at Big 12 Media Days.

“I would really just point back that it has been something new to drive me,” Martinez said of finishing up his career at K-State as a Wildcat. “The fact that you are making new relationships and all of these people are meeting you for the first time it really pushes you to put your best foot forward and being in a new culture and seeing new coaching makes you strive the be the best part of yourself. I had the same coach for four years, but maybe this coach can see something new in my game and help me be a better player.”

Stick with what he’s been doing from a passing and rushing standpoint and then cut down on the interceptions and really cut out those fumbles. That may be the difference in Martinez finding his best self wearing purple this fall.