UPDATE: Former Oregon State RB Damien Martinez will no longer visit Tennessee, he tells @on3sports
Martinez is the Top Available player in the Transfer Portal (per On3)https://t.co/iV4o8PhFye https://t.co/mdVIZG4xay
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 17, 2024
After spring practice, we’ve been wondering if Tennessee would target a running back, and it looks like we know the answer.
Tennessee is one of the five programmes Oregon State running back Damien Martinez has scheduled trips to, according to On3’s Hayes Fawcett. According to reports, the erstwhile Beaver will play the Volunteers on April 21-22.
Martinez declared last week that he will use the transfer portal.
— damien martinez🔸 (@damienfor6) April 10, 2024
His passage into the entrance takes after a few off-field inconvenience at the conclusion of final season. Martinez was captured for doubt of driving beneath the impact of intoxicants. Oregon State went on to suspend Martinez for the bowl amusement.
Martinez is coming off of a enormous season for the Beavers, running for 1,185 yards and nine touchdowns on the year. He ran for 982 yards as a first year recruit. He found the middle value of 6.1 yards per carry amid both seasons.
He will have two seasons of qualification remaining.
Martinez will too visit Mississippi State, Arizona, Kentucky and Miami. Clearly NIL will play a huge part here, and Pete Thamel reports that Martinez turned down $400,000 to remain at Oregon State.
This is often curiously from the Tennessee side. Clearly the Volunteers are set to hand the keys to the backfield over to Dylan Sampson, but we moreover know that Josh Heupel and his staff cherish to utilize different backs. The as it were issue is that a part of that profundity is slammed up and missed time this spring.
Sophomore Cam Seldon went down with an harm this spring and genuine first year recruit Peyton Lewis wasn’t able to take part at all after experiencing surgery upon entry in Knoxville. That cleared out Tennessee with DeSean Minister and Khalifa Keith behind Sampson for much of the spring period.
Rehab spells for Lewis and Seldon are a wildcard here, and it looks like Tennessee will take their shot at including maybe the best title within the exchange entry as of now. With two seasons of eligibility cleared out, you are doing stress approximately sending a more youthful player to the entry as a result, be that as it may. But that’s fair the title of the amusement in today’s college football world.
On the off chance that Tennessee is genuine almost including a body to the running back room, I’d expect a handful more names to rise here in the coming days.