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The legacy of quarterback Ingle Martin, a Florida transfer who led Furman to historic offensive records, a SoCon title, and deep playoff runs
Written By
John Hooper
Correspondent
Written By
John Hooper
Correspondent
When ETSU added both Cade McNamara (Iowa/Michigan) and Jacolby Criswell (North Carolina) to their roster this spring, it was enough to garner some national headlines around not only the FCS, but also the FBS.
It’s interesting to note that this isn’t something that has been uncommon for the SoCon as a league or the FCS as a sub-classification of Division I in the past, or even in this century, with other current programs in the SoCon in that not all that too distant past, which have been the beneficiaries of adding guys that have come from power conferences and made almost an immediate splash in the league.
In the early part of the first decade and beyond, the SoCon was part of a neat trend that saw some high-profile quarterbacks transfer down a level and to play highly-competitive football and at the same have a chance to get on the field and put together the type of career that they wanted, as well as be able to put themselves on the NFL’s radar as viable candidates to be drafted or sign a free agent contract.
If you look at the quality of FBS transfers on that list: Ingle Martin (Florida), Willie Simmons (Clemson-to-The Citadel), BJ Coleman (Tennessee-to-Chattanooga), Chris Forcier (UCLA-to-Furman), David Rivers (Virginia-to-Western Carolina) and Eric Kresser (Florida-to-Marshall) all seemingly offered better and more talented FBS recruits than today's watered down version of guys that might have walked on at a power six program, which made it look more impressive. There were some after that as well that ended up making their mark, but these are the ones that stand out most in my mind.
While there have been several that have transferred in from major programs, none had the same impact as Ingle Martin did at Furman. Below is a look back at Martin’s two seasons spent in Greenville as the Furman quarterback, as well as some of the other quarterbacks that have transferred down from major programs of the quarterbacks listed made significant contributions in major games for their power six programs during the over the past three decades.
The early 2000s Florida Gators were starting to hit their stride under the Ol’ Ball Coach…aka Steve Spurrier, and so it wasn’t all that uncommon to see the Gators employ a multi-quarterback system. Ingle Martin found himself heavily involved as a part of Spurrier’s quarterback plans.
However, after Spurrier left to become head coach of the Washington Redskins in January of 2002, it left some of those talents he recruited under center like Chris Leake, who was recruited by Ron Zook as one of his first standout, blue-chip recruits in his time as Florida’s head football coach. Ingle Martin was a Parade All-American signal-caller out of Nashville, Tenn., and had been recruited and groomed as the potential heir apparent to Rex Grossman.
However, with the sudden change of coach, Martin’s plans would ultimately end up being altered, although he did stay and play a couple of seasons for Zook. As a sidebar to the Ingle Martin story and to bring this FBS quarterback narrative full circle in a bit of a way, Zook originally came to Florida as the defensive coordinator in 1995 to replace Bob Pruett, who would become the head coach at Marshall in 1995, leading the Thundering Herd football program in their final two seasons as a SoCon member. Pruett would lead the Thundering Herd to the ’96 national title in what many feel is the greatest FCS team in history, winning the crown with another former Florida signal-caller, in Eric Kresser, which is detailed below.
After seeing the writing on the wall and acknowledging the fact that Leak had become “the guy” in Gainesville, Martin opted to transfer to a place where he could get a good education, step right into a starting role, and play immediately without having to sit out a season, as it was an NCAA mandate at that time for all transfers within the same classification or transferring up a classification to sit out at least one year. The one loophole being that if you transferred down, that mandated one-year requirement was waived and you could play right away.
Martin took three visits to different Division I-AA programs (now FCS), and met with Penn’s Al Bagnoli, Delaware’s K.C. Keeler, and Furman’s Bobby Lamb before making his final decision to spend his final two years in Greenville, playing for the Paladins. Many had assumed that Martin would go on to play for Keeler and the Blue Hens, who had just won the national title with Georgia Tech transfer Andy Hall leading another of the most dominant teams in FCS history to the 2003 national title. But Martin was reportedly taken by the Furman campus and its beauty, as well as the family-like atmosphere the campus and football program had.
In 2003, Furman had been good, but just not quite good enough, finishing off a disappointing 6-5 campaign, despite having the third-ranked defense in all of NCAA Division I-AA Football that season. Though the Paladins had also ranked second in the SoCon in total offense (384.5 YPG) and third in scoring offense (25.3 PPG), the Paladins were missing something when it came to red zone offense.
The Paladins ranked sixth in red zone offense (70.2%), which proved costly in several games for the Paladins, which included losses to Appalachian State (L, 13-10), The Citadel (L, 10-9) and Wofford (L, 7-6) and that had been enough to snap Furman’s streak of four-straight seasons making the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs.
With Martin now on-board as the missing ingredient, the Paladin offense came into the 2004 season with the potential to be scary good. The Paladins returned two of the top receivers in program history, in Isaac West and Brian Bratton, all five starters back along the offensive line, and a trio of capable running backs.
The Paladin offense was certainly explosive in 2004, and with Martin at the helm of the offense, many had the Paladins entering the season as one of a handful of national title contenders.
He would lead a complete transformation of the unit in that season, as the Paladins saw their numbers improve 86 yards in total offense and roughly 10 points (34.9 PPG) in scoring average from the season prior to Martin’s arrival.
It was most apparent just how big an impact had had with the Furman offense and just how good he made the Paladin offense, which now teamed with an elite defense that returned 10 of 11 starters from a 2003 season which saw the Paladins field a top five unit.
While it was hard to tell how good Furman was in wins over Presbyterian, Samford and Gardner-Webb in the first three games of the season, when the Paladins and Martin went up against the Power Five and the Pitt Panthers out of the Big East, it was a different story.
I will say that veteran Samford Sports Information Director Joey Mullins relayed a story to me about when Furman played Samford in the second game of the season about Martin when the Paladins and Bulldogs faced off against each other on Sept. 11, 2004.
In that game, Mullins detailed a story of Martin’s running ability, and that how future NFL All-Pro defensive Courtland Finnegan, who actually opened the game by out-racing the Furman special teams, returning the opening kickoff 64 yards for a score to put the Bulldogs on top, was the fastest player on Samford’s team, and one of the fastest in program history, as he ran a 4.29 forty-yard dash time.
Mullins went on detail that on Martin’s 58-yard option keeper that it looked as if Finnegan was going to take the a good angle and stop Martin in his tracks, however, Martin ran past Finnegan and then the Samford speedster couldn’t run the 6-3, 225-lb quarterback down from behind and it would give the Paladins a 14-7 lead in a game they would go on to win 45-10.
Mullins went on to say that at point, and I paraphrase that Martin was pretty good and that Samford was in trouble. Finnegan went on to enjoy a nice NFL career, spending most of his best years as a star for the Tennessee Titans (2006-11), where he was a pro-bowl selection in 2008.
Against Pittsburgh—a game which I attended in 2004 at Heinz Field—his big-time capability as a big-time quarterback that had played at the highest level was evident. Against the Panthers, who were coached by Walt Harris and would go on to play in the Fiesta Bowl against UCLA on New Year’s Day.
Martin and the Paladin offense looked like they were going to shock Tyler Palko and the Pitt Panthers for most of the afternoon. In the middle portion of the game, which comprised portions of the second and third quarters, Martin helped the Paladin offense find a rhythm, Furman scored 24 unanswered points to take a 31-14 lead in the third quarter.
The Paladins even led 38-24 with 10 minutes remaining, however, Palko and a beat up Furman defense, which lost two of its top three tacklers in the first five plays of the game, would eventually come back to tie the game, 38-38, and in overtime, Josh Cummings booted a 43-yard game-winning field goal to help the Panthers escape the jaws of defeat and a major upset. It dropped the Paladins to 3-1 on the young season.
The Paladins finished with 423 yards of total offense against the Panthers, and Martin finished the game going 13-of-25 passing for 239 yards, with three TDs and a pair of INTs.
One of his best games in a Furman uniform would come a couple weeks later in Furman’s only other regular-season loss at Appalachian State, as he would pass for 303 yards, with one touchdown and an INT.
In a key late-season battle in Greenville before a sellout crowd of 17,145 fans on-hand at Paladin Stadium against the No. 2 ranked Eagles, many didn’t give the Paladins much of a chance, despite the Paladins playing at home.
Furman and head coach Bobby Lamb had decided to play it close-to-the-vest a week earlier in a win at Elon, as the Paladins seemingly did what they needed to without giving away too much on film for the Georgia Southern coaching staff to dissect.
Since Furman had only defeated the lowly Phoenix by a 10-0 margin at Rhodes Stadium a week earlier, the same Elon team the Eagles had blasted 48-14 in early October.Martin and the Paladins were superb all afternoon, and the Paladins went on to defeat the second-ranked Eagles for one of the biggest regular-season home wins in school history, as the Florida transfer signal-caller led the Paladins on an impressive 7-play, 80-yard drive that culminated in an 8-yard scoring rumble from Jerome Felton, allowing the Paladins to go up by a 27-22 score.
Instead of kicking the PAT, the Paladins opted for the two-point play and Isaac West took a hand-off on an end around and scored untouched on the two-point play to give the Paladins a 29-22 lead. The Paladin defense then came up with the stop it needed on the defensive end to secure the memorable win.
The Paladins would finish the regular season with wins over No. 12 Wofford (W, 31-24) and vs. Chattanooga (51-31) to qualify for the Division I-AA Playoffs. The Paladins would enter the postseason with the No. 2 overall seed and would have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The late-season win over No.2 Georgia Southern three weeks prior to the end of the season had been enough to help the Paladins to a share of the Southern Conference title with the Eagles, and by virtue of the Paladins’ win over the other league co-champion, the Paladins garnered the higher seed, entering the ’04 postseason as the No. 2 seed. Martin had been a notable difference for the Paladins, as Furman finished the regular season with a 9-2 record, including a 6-1 mark in league play.
In the opening round of the playoffs against Jacksonville State, which was making its second-ever Division I-AA Playoff appearance, would fall victim to a good Furman team, which came away with a 49-7 win, as Martin and the Paladin offense went wild in the win. The junior signal-caller from Nashville passed for 282 yards and four scores, while running for another to account for five of the Paladins’ seven TDs in the game.
His four TD tosses put him at 21 for the regular season, which set a new school record. He remains second in single season, scoring passes with a total of 22 in the 2004 season.
By the time the Paladins faced James Madison in the next round of the playoffs, Furman looked the part of playing for a national title for the second time in four years. However, Martin and the Paladin machine-like offense ran into a sound, defensive juggernaut in head coach Mickey Matthews’ James Madison team.
The Dukes would be the one team that would ultimately find a way to slow Martin and the Paladin machine-like offensive attack, James Madison’s defense limited the Paladins to about 150 yards less than their average coming into the game.
Though the season had a disappointing end, the Paladins had posted four more wins with Martin at the controls of the offense, and more importantly, that had led to Furman’s first SoCon title since 2001, establishing himself from the outset as one of the best quarterbacks in all of Division I-AA Football.
He finished his first of two seasons in Greenville setting new Furman single-season marks for passing yards (2,792), passing touchdowns (22), total offense (3,084) and touchdown responsibilities (25).
The 2005 season had an ominous beginning to it, as Ingle Martin’s final season as the starting quarterback for the Paladins would begin amid the backdrop of a natural disaster about 400 miles away when infamous Category 5 Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast, as Furman, which until 1962, was known as the “Purple Hurricane” started the season in the state of Alabama against a familiar foe. to pick up the pieces after a Category 5 Hurricane known now infamously as “Katrina” because of the damage and destruction it wrought.
Martin and the Paladins would start on a Thursday night in Jacksonville, AL, facing off against Jacksonville State in a Top 25 clash in an early game that would have Division I-AA Playoff implications. It was a game on a national scale to say the least. The Gamecocks, who were under the direction of head coach Jack Crowe, and Jacksonville State was a program that was taking giant steps as a perennial Division I-AA power.
On August 25, 2005, it will hold a spot in the memory banks for us Americans as one of the more somber and tragic memories in recent history, with Katrina claiming numerous lives and displacing even more, however, for those that follow Furman football and even cover NCAA Division I-AA as a profession, it will also be linked with one of Furman’s most memorable games of the 21st century.
Other than Martin, Furman’s offense was one of the bigger question marks coming into the campaign, with the graduation of some key skill position players.
The good news was the fact that three starters returned along the offensive front, along with two of the three running backs that had contributed to Furman’s three-headed monster at running back a year earlier, in both Cedric Gipson and Daric Carter.
However, Furman had so much to replace on the defensive side of the ball, especially at linebacker and defensive back. Gone were some key pieces like Mike Killian at middle linebacker, while All-American safety Cam Newton had also moved on.
The good news for Paladin fans was William Freeman returned at linebacker, as he moved to the middle of Furman defense for his final season following Killian's departure.
Also back was defensive end Roy Ravenell, who entered the season as one of the best pass-rushing defensive ends in the SoCon.
Martin wouldn't have the dynamic receiving duo of having Brian Bratton or Isaac West to throw the football to in ’05, it would be up to Martin to find a couple of new wideouts that could put stress on a defense. He would do that from the very start of the season.
He would instead have a pair of savvy vets that would go on to not only be reliable, but also remain in the record books to this day in various receiving categories, in both Justin Stepp and Patrick Sprague.
Martin and the Paladins would claim a 37-35 win in the most dramatic of fashions, as Martin found wideout Justin Stepp for a 9-yard scoring pass with one second left, as the Paladins were given one more chance and one more second was put back on the clock after the ruling on the play was an incomplete pass and not a fumble, and that proved to be the final play of the game, as the Paladins escaped with a 37-35 win.
Without the luxury of having an FBS team on the schedule, there was little margin for error for Martin and the Paladins in ’05, so opening the season on the road with a win over the 20th-ranked Jacksonville State Gamecocks proved vital when it came to postseason aspirations.
It would be the start of another big season for Martin and the Paladin offense, and one that would go down in history books as the greatest single season for a Furman offense in program history.
Martin had once again been superb for the Paladins in the ’05 season opener, picking up in strong fashion to where he had left off in the Paladins’ opening round playoff win over the same team a few months earlier in Greenville. For the game, Martin connected on 17-of-27 passes for 200 yards with one touchdown and no INTs. He also added a 1-yard rushing score in the contest.
The Paladins would then suffer a surprising defeat at the hands of Western Carolina in their Southern Conference opener nine days later on a hot late afternoon that descended into the evening at EJ Whitmire Stadium.
It was an uncharacteristically bad performance by Martin and the Paladins against the league’s other team that wears purple, as Western Carolina handed the Paladins a demonstrative defeat.
In the loss to the Catamounts, Martin felt the pressure from all sides in the loss, and though it was not known at the time, it would be one of WCU’s best defensive units in program history, as the Catamounts finished as the 2005 league leader in total defense for just the second time in the history of that program. Martin would finish out the game against the Catamounts 24-of-42 passing for 249 yards, with two touchdowns and a career-high tying five INTs.
It would end up being the first of two costly Southern Conference losses, as the Paladins would end up losing their crown as defending Southern Conference champions in ’05, however, would end up ultimately going on and making a deep run in the Division I-AA Playoffs, as the Paladins would make it even a step further in the postseason than they had a year earlier.
The Paladins would establish a knack for being able to win games late if they had the ball last when Martin was under center. It all started back in the ’04 season against Georgia Southern, and that was a theme that continued throughout the ’05 season, which lasted until the ultimate end to Furman’s dream just one game short of the national title in the Division I-AA Semifinals against Appalachian State.
In the final non-conference game of the season, Martin and the Paladins faced off against another nationally ranked Division I-AA program, as Hofstra made its first trip to Greenville since defeating the Paladins behind quarterback Rocky Butler in a cold, rainy opening round contest at Paladin Stadium in 2000.
This time around, Martin and Furman would exact revenge, however, the Pride were ranked for a reason, so victory would not come easy on this exceedingly hot late September afternoon at Paladin Stadium.
The Pride arrived in Greenville ranked 17th in the latest Division I-AA poll and displayed a prolific offense behind the leadership of quarterback Anton Clarkson and future NFL All-Pro and New Orleans Saints receiver Marques Colston.
The two teams traded blows all afternoon, however, with Furman trailing 35-28 late in the game, it was Martin’s turn to once again help the Paladins draw even and force overtime by engineering a 7-play, 46-yard drive, which ended with a 6-yard scoring strike to tight end John Rust with just 32 seconds remaining, tying the score, 35-35, as Martin and the Paladin offense ultimately forced overtime.
In overtime, the two teams traded field goals in the first frame of OT, as Scott Beckler connected from 41 yards out and then Rob Zarrilli matched for Hofstra from 48 yards, tying the game, 41-41, and sending it to a second overtime.
Furman held Hofstra to another Zarrilli field goal and then Martin used eight plays to cover the needed 25 yards for the game winning points. The Paladins had the Pride tired by this point in the game, having snapped the ball 94 times already when they got the ball for the second possession of overtime. A combination of Jerome Felton and Daric Carter, with the final four coming from the 245-lb Felton, gaining 20 yards down to the Hofstra 1. On third-and-goal, Martin snuck it over the top for the game-winning points, and the Paladins had once again escaped, thanks largely to Martin, finishing out a thrilling 44-41 victory.
The Paladins set a new program single-game standard with 102 plays from scrimmage, and Martin finished the contest connecting on 22-of-34 passes for 176 yards, with three touchdowns and one INT, while rushing for the game-winning touchdown. The senior quarterback powered a Furman offense that rolled up a total of 488 yards in the win.
Furman finished out non-conference play with a 48-31 win over Gardner-Webb at Paladin Stadium and did so by putting on an offensive display that featured big-play highlights for much of the day, as the Paladins amassed 610 yards of total offense in the triumph. Of the particular noteworthy highlights in the win over the Bulldogs, it was once again quarterback Ingle Martin that stole the show, showcasing his overall athleticism as he had done in his first season in a win at Samford, when he raced 80 yards and out-ran the entire Gardner-Webb secondary for a TD to put Furman up 42-10 on the first play of the third quarter.
The following week would provide another stern test for Furman, as 16th-ranked Appalachian State, which had defeated Martin and the Paladins 30-29 on the strength of a remarkable afternoon by Mountaineers signal-caller Richie Williams, who completed an NCAA record 28-straight passes and his rushing score with 16 seconds remaining had been enough to lead the Apps to a thrilling, last-second win on that occasion.
However, in the ’05 regular-season battle of the SoCon titans in Greenville, the Paladins would turn the tide on the Mountaineers on go on to grab a last-second win of their own, with Martin fully responsible for using a mix of savvy and his cool, calm demeanor under pressure to once again help the Paladins get the much needed result.
With Furman 31-26 in the final five minutes of the game, the Paladins had the ball back with one last opportunity to come away with the win. It would be up to Martin and the Paladin offense to come through. Just as he had done against Jacksonville State and Hofstra earlier in the season in games with Furman trailing, Martin came through in the clutch.
The senior quarterback engineered a 14-play, 74-yard drive and tossed what would prove to be the game-winning scoring pass to wideout Patrick Sprague with 31 seconds remaining to make it a 32-31 game. Jerome Felton capped the drive with a two-point conversion run to make it a 34-31 Furman lead.
While the scoring pass to Sprague was certainly important, it was what Martin did in the lead-up to the final score that was most brilliant. With a huge game-defining third down at the App State 38, Martin gave a hard count, knowing that the Mountaineers had two of the quickest, most athletic and most importantly, most aggressive defensive ends in all of FCS football, in Jason Hunter and Marques Murrell.
Drawing upon that info, Martin gave a hard count as the play-clock wound down inside five seconds, and Hunter jumped across and a flag flew. On 4th-and-3, Furman got a free five yards and a new set of downs. What made it impressive is that it was not the first time that Martin accomplished during this drive, but the second.
He would finish that early October afternoon connecting on 15-of-26 passes for 252 yards and a pair of touchdowns and no INTs.
It was a classic of a game, and it wouldn’t be the last time the two would play each other during the ’05 season, as Appalachian State would end up ending Furman’s reign as Southern Conference title by winning the league crown outright. Appalachian State’s only league loss during the ’05 season.
However, the glimmer and shine of that victory would last a little over two months, when the Mountaineers and Paladins squared off again—this time in the FCS semifinals and in a packed house on a chilly December afternoon in Boone— and this game had a magnitude on a whole different level, with the winner having a chance to collect some hardware and the loser would call it a season.
Following the win over the Mountaineers, Martin and the Paladins headed to The Citadel for the key annual rivalry game. This would be a game that Martin would not be at its best, and credit goes to The Citadel coaching staff and the Charleston heat.
Martin was struggling against a Bulldogs team that had struggled all season, but looked revitalized under first-year coach Kevin Higgins, seeming as if every offensive set and package the Paladins sent in with Martin, it was as if the Bulldogs knew the play. It’s the one game during the 2005 season in which I don’t think that if Martin had been able to finish out the game, that the Paladins would have ended up winning the game.
The Paladins trailed 21-7 and had just 226 yards of total offense after three quarters, with most of that with Martin under center. However, late in the third quarter of the game, Martin exited the game due to cramps due to dehydration, and in came back up Renaldo Gray.
Gray would end up leading the Paladins to a wild, 39-31, triple-overtime win over the Bulldogs in another wild game and one that saw the Bulldogs far less capable of handling Gray under center than Martin, as Furman went completely to a ground-oriented, option attack.
Obviously, that was something the Bulldogs hadn’t prepared much for during the week. Martin finished his afternoon just 15-of-30 passing for 182 yards with one INT. By comparison, Gray connected on 4-of-11 throws for 77 yards with a touchdown and an INT. He also had seven rushes for 44 yards and a touchdown.
Furman got the rare breather the following week, as the Paladins needed Martin for only three quarters in this game for different reasons, as he had comfortably padded the Paladin lead enough this time around to allow for Renaldo Gray to get more quality reps under center in the fourth quarter. Though Martin’s day finished early, he ended up completing 12-of-19 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown, as the Paladins torched Elon, 45-6.
The next week presented one of the biggest challenges of the season, as Furman, which had now ascended to No. 1 in the nation, headed into dreaded territory—Allen E. Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, GA, to face off against a desperate Georgia Southern team, which was playing for its playoff life, having already suffered three setbacks. Then head coach Mike Sewak might or might not have known it at the time, however, he was coaching for his very job. He would be fired after the Eagles lost in the opening round of the playoffs to Texas State.
Georgia Southern’s desperation would ultimately win out, as Furman’s stay at No. 1 in the nation would be short-lived, with the Eagles claiming a 27-24 win over the top-ranked Paladins.
The setback for Furman would be costly, as it likely put an end to any hopes of a second-straight SoCon title, as well as costing the Paladins a home game in the postseason. Martin was again stellar, connecting on 16-of-21 passes for 240 yards, with one touchdown and one INT. The Paladin offense averaged nearly eight yards per play (7.8 YPP), however, Furman only had the ball for 49 snaps, thanks in large part to Georgia Southern’s ball-control offense, which racked up 501 yards of total offense, including 438 on the ground.
The Paladins took a 24-20 lead on a 26-yard run by Jerome Felton with 5:12 left in the third quarter. That would remain the score until late in the game. Georgia Southern put together a drive of perfection, which consumed over half of the final 15 minutes of football, using 17 plays to cover 87 yards and took 7:38 off the game clock, and it would be a Jermaine Austin 4-yard scoring run with just 62 seconds remaining allowed the Eagles to take a 27-24 lead.
The game-winning score was set up by a severely underthrown pass by future Walter Payton Award winning quarterback Jayson Foster (won Payton award in ’07), as the Eagles faced a 3rd-and-17 play, but Chris Dickerson adjusted accordingly while Furman defensive back Austin Holmes never noticed, as Dickerson came back to the ball and hauled in the Foster aerial for a 35-yard gain and giving the Eagles a 1st-and-goal inside the Paladin 10. The Eagle fans erupted.
Furman had the ball back with the game once again in the hands of Martin, and the Paladin offense moved the ball down to the Georgia Southern 30 and had many in the crowd collectively thinking “uh-oh”.
However, Terrence McBride would pick off a Martin aerial at the Eagles 9-yard line with 29 seconds remaining to seal Furman’s fate. Martin and the Paladins now felt the pressure of needing to win out to secure playoff passage, and in the final two games of the regular season would get big wins over both Wofford and at Chattanooga to secure playoff passage. The Paladins’ win over Wofford on Senior Day likely secured Furman’s bid to the playoffs, as Furman improved to 8-2. The win over UTC put the Paladins at 9-2 overall and 5-2 in SoCon play.
Martin would shine in each of his final two regular-season games, as he connected on 16-of-24 throws for 180 yards, with one touchdown and in the regular-season finale at Chattanooga, Martin turned in a career afternoon, as he finished the contest by connecting on 15-of-17 throws to cap a near-flawless day at the office. He also added a pair of touchdown passes in Furman’s lopsided, 56-35, win to close out the season, helping lead the Paladins into the postseason with more than just a little momentum. The Paladins rolled up 662 yards of total offense in the demolition of the hapless Mocs.
In the opening round of the playoffs, Furman would face off against a defensive-minded Nicholls State team out of the Southland. The game was eerily reminiscent of the James Madison game the Paladins had dropped a year earlier in the postseason, but the Colonels didn’t have quite the offense the Dukes, which they had brought to Paladin Stadium a year earlier to end up getting what was a 14-13 win on that occasion.
Martin and the Furman offense may have had a bit more trouble moving the football; however, they moved it when they needed to, despite finishing the contest with just 243 yards of total offense in the game. The Paladin defense, which struggled for a vast majority of the ’05 season, would do enough, however, holding the visitors to just 199 yards and 12 points en route to a 14-12 win.
As for Martin, he would finish the afternoon just 5-of-12 passing for 68 yards, with one touchdown and one INT. He would end up finishing out the game with 41 yards rushing on seven carries.
In the FCS Quarterfinals, the Paladins would be forced to go on the road for the first time in the postseason, facing off against the Richmond Spiders. The Spiders had one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in all of FCS football, and his name was Stacey Tutt. Around those parts, fans referred to him simply as “King Tutt.”
On a cold December evening at University of Richmond Stadium, which at that time was the old Richmond Motor Speedway, the Paladins needed Martin to come through in the clutch again, and naturally, he did. Although at least this time, while the game was close in the fourth quarter, it was one the Paladins led. It was the defense that would be forced to come up with the key stop in a key moment to help the Paladins to go on to the 24-20 win on this night.
A little less than midway through the third quarter and with Furman holding what was a 17-14 lead, Martin and the Paladins would seemingly take control of the football game, and it was a four-play, 63-yard drive, which was highlighted by a 46-yard strike from Martin-to-Patrick Sprague that got the Paladins all the way down to the Richmond 17. Three plays later, Jerome Felton bulled through the Spider defensive line for a 1-yard scoring plunge to give the Paladins a seemingly safe two-score lead, at 24-14, with 8:19 remaining in the third quarter.
Furman’s defense did its part most of the night, and the Paladin defensive unit would help the two-score advantage stand up for at least a little while in the second half, as on Richmond’s first five drives of the second half, the Paladin defensive unit allowed just 68 total yards. Furman had a chance to pad the lead even more in the fourth quarter, but Scott Beckler missed on a 38-yard field goal attempt, leaving the door open for the Richmond offense, which since the opening quarter of the game had been virtually non-existent.
However, in the fourth quarter, the Spiders would make things interesting, as they finally started to find a bit of rhythm once again under the leadership of quarterback Stacy Tutt and star running back Tim Hightower. The Spiders traveled 79 yards in 13 plays to get within four of the Paladins following tight end Ben Teufel’s 10-yard scoring catch from Tutt with 8:20 remaining in the contest. A bad snap from center on the PAT proved key, however, as the Paladins maintained a four-point lead, meaning Richmond would need a touchdown to win the football game.
Martin and the Paladins were able to at least burn some of the remaining time of the clock on the ensuing offensive possession, burning 4:33 off the game clock but the drive would eventually stall, and the Paladins opted for a pooch punt by Martin, which would be downed at the 15. Instead of Martin being asked to win it in a late-game situation, it would be up to the Furman defense if it wanted to continue in the Division I-AA Playoffs in the 2005 season to extend Martin and company’s season by at least one more game.
Tutt and the Richmond offense began to move the ball down the field, using seven plays to reach the Paladin 33, however, a promising 15-yard run by Hightower to the Paladin 18 was nullified by a holding penalty against the Spiders. It was a huge momentum shift, taking the ball from being 1st-and-10 Richmond at the Furman 15 to being 1st-and-20 Richmond from the Furman 43.
After two-straight incompletions from Tutt, the star quarterback scrambled to gain 13 yards down to the Furman 30, where he absorbed a huge hit from Jeremy Blocker that left Tutt bloodied and woozy.
Despite staying down on the field for quite a bit of time, Tutt was allowed to stay in for Richmond’s 4th-and-7 play, however, it appeared Furman had done enough to take over control of the football when Tutt was stopped by Paul White for just a two-yard gain. However, the Paladins were flagged for an offsides infraction, and thus, the down would be replayed, however, it would now be just 4th-and-2 instead of 4th-and-7.
On the Spiders’ biggest play of the night, the Paladin defense flushed Tutt out of the pocket, and that forced a hurried, off-balance throw intended for Matt Hale that landed harmlessly incomplete.
The Paladins took over on downs with 1:03 remaining and ran out the remaining clock to move on to the Division I-AA Semifinals for the first time in four years. Once again, the Paladins would face a Southern Conference team at the penultimate stage for the second time in four years. The last time that happened, the Paladins prevailed over Georgia Southern, 24-17, in Statesboro to reach the national title game against Montana.
This time, Martin and the Paladins would have to go through rival Appalachian State to make the championship game. Martin finished the game against the Spiders, connecting on 17-of-25 passes for 249 yards and one touchdown, as the Paladin offense out-gained the Spiders 443-348 in the win.
The Paladins fell behind Appalachian 14-0 after starting quarterback and Walter Payton Award candidate quarterback Richie Williams exited the game midway through the opening quarter with a sprained ankle. Williams had staked the Mountaineers to an early 7-0 lead, which culminated in a Kevin Richardson 1-yard scoring plunge on the first drive of the game for the Mountaineers. After Williams exited, Elder made it a 14-0 game after using an option-freeze play-action pass on Trey Elder’s first play as Appalachian’s new signal-caller, giving the Black and Gold a two-touchdown lead with 6:36 remaining in the opening quarter.
Furman took control of the rest of the half behind a punishing ground game and Martin’s play-action passing to build a 23-21 halftime lead. Jerome Felton ran for 105 yards and scored two touchdowns. Martin was 17-of-28 passing for 238 yards and rushed eight times for 49 yards, helping the Paladins pile up 509 yards of offense.
The crucial play in the contest came in the third quarter and with Furman having the opportunity to take a two-score advantage, up 23-21, on a third-and-goal play from the five. Furman’s Martin appeared to have a clear route to the end zone on a naked bootleg; however, he slipped on a patch of ice at the three, without a Mountaineer defender within three yards of him.
On the next play, the Paladins decided to go for the TD, instead of calling upon shaky place-kicker Scott Beckler to attempt the short field goal, and Jerome Felton was stopped in the backfield for a loss by Pierre Banks and Jason Hunter. That provided the spark the Mountaineers needed. The stone-wall stop by the Apps preserved a two-point deficit.
With the ball back late in the game, Martin and the Paladin offense would get one more chance. It almost seemed like in every game, the ball would be in the hands of Martin with a chance to win or lose the game, but either way you knew it was going to be in his hands. This time, fate was not on the side of Martin and the Paladins, however, as the Apps got a 1-yard scoring plunge from Elder with 2:17 left to take a 29-23 lead following a successful two-point conversion pass from Elder-to-William Mayfield.
With the ball back one more time, the Paladins needed a little Martin magic. Martin put Mountaineer fans on the edge of their seats, leading the Paladins into Appalachian territory with less than 40 seconds remaining, but on a first-and-10 play from the Appalachian 36, a pair of Mountaineer senior defensive linemen combined to make one of the most memorable plays in Appalachian State football lore.
Jason Hunter charged through and drilled Martin, forcing the football loose, which was picked up by nose tackle Omarr Byrom and returned all the way to the Furman one-yard line before he was eventually tackled by a hard-charging offensive lineman Patrick Covington. The Mountaineers went on to beat Northern Iowa 21-16 to secure their first of three-straight national titles in what was a historic run.
For Martin and Furman, it was the end of a historic run with Ingle Martin leading the Paladin offense. This one player at the most key position on the football field had a profound impact on Paladin football for two seasons under then head coach Bobby Lamb. Lamb's offensive line coach at the time, Clay Hendrix, who is currently Furman’s head coach, recalls the profound impact that Martin had on the program and on the offense for those two seasons.
“I think one of the things I remember most about Ingle [Martin] was first of all just what kind of person he was even beyond as good of a football player he really was, he was just an outstanding person…It’s not a surprise that he’s had the kind of success he’s having at CPA [Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, TN ) and we recruit there often because we know we’re getting a good player, but most importantly we know because of who coached him that the young man is going to be one of tremendous character and also disciplined in other areas, with the most important one being academically. He [Ingle Martin] had this presence about him as a leader that kind of made it easier on everyone and made us a confident team and especially on offense during those two seasons…I don’t think I’ve coached too many like Ingle Martin and I know he definitely left his mark on the history of this great football program,” head coach Clay Hendrix said.
“Ingle [Martin] just ended up being the perfect fit during for us because we had had some quarterback issues at the time the season prior to him coming in, and we hadn’t been particularly good in the red zone in some games and had some close losses in there…It ended up being a great match and he had a presence about him that just being around him kind of rubbed off on some of the guys already on the team and that was kind of something you can’t coach…Sometimes a quarterback just has some natural gifts as a leader, and that’s certainly beyond football even and Martin was that guy. He made our job easier in a lot of ways at times because of that,” Hendrix added.
Though Martin and the Paladins fell short of their goal, which was not only reaching the national title game, but winning the title, both Paladin fans and FCS football fans alike will never forget the impact made by a player like Martin.
His transfer to Furman from Florida was one of the first major headliners that had been a five-star, parade All-American recruit to go from a place like Florida to Furman.
There had been a few, and even some in the Southern Conference in recent years prior to Martin, but there hadn’t been one with the credentials that Martin had coming out of high school as one of the very best quarterbacks in the nation. Andy Hall, which is mentioned above in this article, was one that was an impactful transfer that led Delaware to the 2003 national title, however, even he didn’t carry the same kind of acclaim that Martin had when he led the Blue Hens to the ’03 national title after transferring in from Georgia Tech.
In his two seasons as Furman’s starting quarterback, Martin helped the Paladins post a 21-6 overall record, a SoCon title in ’04, and a pair of deep runs in the Division I-AA (now FCS) playoffs. Martin helped the Paladins to an 11-3 mark in SoCon games over two seasons, with all three of those losses coming on the road (at Appalachian State ’04, at Western Carolina ’05 and at Georgia Southern ’05).
The Paladins were a perfect 11-0 in regular-season games at home in 2004 and ’05, and 13-1 overall, which included three playoff games. The only two teams to defeat Furman at home in Martin’s two seasons as the Paladin quarterback was ’04 champion James Madison, who posted a 14-13 win over the Paladins in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs.
Furman’s offenses during the 2004 and ’05 seasons flourished with Martin at the controls, and went on to rank as two of the best in the history of Furman football, and the ’05 offense would end up amassing 6,580 yards through 14 games, which would be the most in SoCon history for a single-season and still remains second to this day to only the App State 2007 offense, which secured a third-straight national title by amassing 7,325 total yards in 15 games that season. The Paladins averaged 470.0 yards-per-game during the ’05 season, which was and still is a program record.
Furman’s 488 points scored rank eighth in league history for most in a single season, with Georgia Southern and Appalachian State occupying the first seven spots on the ledger. The Paladins recorded 1,061 snaps of the football during the ’05 campaign, which ranks second to only App State’s 1,088 plays through 15 games in ’07.
The Paladins posted a SoCon record 353 first downs in ’05, which is a record that has lasted two decades now. Furman’s 64 touchdowns scored in ’05 ranks 10th in SoCon history. Furman’s 102 plays in a single game in the ’05 win against Hofstra ranks eighth in league history.
In Martin’s two seasons as Furman’s starting quarterback, the Paladins averaged 34.5 PPG and 34.9 PPG in two seasons, and individually, the Nashville native became just the second quarterback in Furman football history to lead the SoCon in total passing yards (2,959 yds) and was the first to do so since Clyde Hewell in 1969. All told, Martin finished the ’05 campaign connecting on 212-of-349 passes for 2,959 yards, with 20 TDs and 13 INTs. He would hold 15 Furman records at the time of his graduation in ’05, quarterbacking the Paladins for just two seasons. He would finish his career as the school’s all-time leader in passing yards (5,761) and total offense (6,277).
Amazingly, though he played only two seasons of football for the Paladins, his 5,751 passing yards in two seasons still ranks third in Furman history in career passing yards.
Martin’s impact on Furman football is hard to measure completely because he did so much, however, his impact as a big-time transfer from a power four conference still echoes down through the decades, and though there have been others to have come to the SoCon and had some success in the past, there hasn’t been one with quite the credentials as Martin had.
It’s been two decades since Martin left Furman now, but heading into the 2025 season, there are again two signal-callers at one school (ETSU) that have power four experience, and at least one of those players—Cade McNamara (Iowa/Michigan)—that has the similar type of potential impact with his name being a household name to even the most casual of college football fans. And while McNamara didn’t originally come to Michigan with the same high marks and ratings as Martin came to Florida some two decades ago, he does have a similar pedigree in that he was hand-picked by a national title winning head coach and former college standout quarterback.
For Martin, it was Johnson City’s own Steve Spurrier, while for McNamara, it was former Michigan and current LA Chargers head coach and former standout Wolverine QB Jim Harbaugh.
The similarities are there for all to see. Now it will be interesting to see just how McNamara does, or if he’s even the starter, as he is locked in a tight battle with North Carolina transfer Jacolby Criswell for the starting job. Unlike Martin though, McNamara will be in his seventh season as a college quarterback. Below I have listed some other significant power conference transfers that have made the Southern Conference their home over the past three decades.
While Ingle Martin might have been the most significant big-time transfer from the FBS level, there were others in the Southern Conference that would ultimately make a splash in the league during the latter portion of the 1990s and the early 2000s.
One of those signal-callers to have a significant impact on a SoCon program was Western Carolina’s David Rivers, who came to the Catamount football program for the 2000 campaign from the University of Virginia.
In his one season at Western Carolina, Rivers ended up putting together one of the most prolific seasons in Catamount history during the 2000 season, as he finished the campaign by passing for 2,878 yards and 17 TDs and nine INTs on 208-of-350 passing. That 2000 campaign, which saw the Catamounts under the direction of then head coach Bill Bleil, would see Western Carolina post a 4-7 record.
At the time of his departure, Rivers had put together the second-most prolific single-season in school history for a WCU signal-caller, ranking second in program history for both completions (208) and total passing yards (2,878). Rivers spent a short time in the NFL with both the Atlanta Falcons and the St. Louis Rams. He saw limited time at Virginia before coming to Cullowhee in the 1997 and ’99 seasons, respectively.
When Willie Simmons, who is now the current head coach at FIU, arrived to play quarterback at The Citadel, it brought a collective gasp from both media members and fans alike. That’s because Simmons had been a big deal both coming out of high school and during his time as the backup to one of Clemson’s all-time greats, Woodrow Dantzler.
A year prior to Simmons’ arrival, the late Jeff Klein transferred into the Bulldogs’ program from Auburn where he excelled in his final season as a quarterback with The Citadel. Though the 2002 season wouldn’t yield any kind of overall team success, it would for the former Auburn Tiger quarterback, who backed up Ben Leard during his time with the Tigers from 1998-01, as he finished the season passing for 2,561 yards with 17 TDs and 10 INTs. Klein’s 2,566 yards of total offense was also a single-season school record.
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs could only muster a 3-9 overall mark, which included just a 1-7 ledger in league play. That would set the stage for high expectations in 2003 with the arrival of Simmons in the early part of summer. Simmons would lead the Bulldogs to wins over Georgia Southern, Furman, and Appalachian State for the first time in one season as a SoCon member, however, it somehow wouldn’t be enough to yield anything meaningful overall in the ’03 season for The Citadel, which finished just 6-6.
Though Simmons didn’t produce the kind of results that Bulldogs fans were hoping for overall during his one season with the program, he did manage to take the league by storm and made the Bulldogs offense one that had to be accounted for throughout the season. He would complete his one season with the Bulldogs passing for 1,864 yards, while totaling 2,062 yards of total offense, leading an explosive Bulldogs team that, for the first time in its storied history, took down Furman, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern within the same season.
Even before the turn of the millennium and Martin's transfer to Furman, there was another big name that played just one season for a program and made a big impact on that program he transferred into. No one will soon forget the type of impact Florida transfer Eric Kresser had for Marshall during that magical 1996 season, which made the Thundering Herd arguably the greatest and most dominant team in FCS history.
However, Kresser's name and game, though impactful, isn't likely the first transfer to pop in your head when thinking of that '96 Marshall team. It's hard put his name on the same line as Martin's in terms of overall impact because during that 1996 season for Marshall football, most headlines that were written involved another high-profile transfer from the FBS--Florida State transfer wide receiver Randy Moss.
Kresser transferred into Marshall from Florida, where he spent time prior to that backing up eventual national title-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel as well as Shane Matthews prior to Wuerffel during his time at Florida, however, Kresser had notably set a Florida single-game school record with 458 passing yards and six TDs against Northern Illinois in a game in 1995.
It was enough to force future New York Jet (Chad Pennington) and reigning SoCon Freshman of the Year quarterback into a redshirt year as a result of Kresser’s mid-July departure from Gainesville. As a result of having Randy Moss—a transfer from Florida State prior to the 1996 season--the Thundering Herd when on to one of the most dominant seasons in Division I-AA history (now FCS history).
BJ Coleman was part of the turnaround for UTC football under Russ Huesman. Originally a highly-recruited signal-caller at the University of Tennessee, Coleman opted to transfer after seeing only limited action during his true freshman season behind both Jonathon Crompton and Nick Stephens.
He would end up being an impact player throughout his career with the Mocs, finishing with 6,871 career passing yards, which ranked second all-time at UTC at the time of Coleman’s departure. He became the fourth Mocs quarterback in program history to pass for 6,000 yards and sixth to reach 5,000 yards passing in a career, setting a school record with 52 touchdowns over the course of three seasons.
Coleman led the Mocs to a turnaround and was a foundational element of a UTC program that would go on to win three Southern Conference titles under Huesman, claiming the outright or shared league titles in 2013, ’14 and ’15, as well as making three FCS Playoff appearances.
Coleman also spent part of his career battling injuries, which included a shoulder injury in his senior season in 2011, which ultimately led to an early end to his career as the starting quarterback at UTC.
In his three seasons, helped the Mocs to a 17-16 overall record, helping UTC attain consecutive above .500 seasons in both 2009 and ’10 for the first time since 1990 and ’91.
Coleman's top year as UTC quarterback was 2010, when he threw for 2,996 yards (third-most in school history) and set a then-record with 26 touchdowns. His signature performance of the season came in a memorable come-from-behind win on the road at No. 25 Furman, as the then 24th Mocs snapped a 15-game losing skid in the series to the Paladins because of Coleman’s heroic passing effort.
In a game that the Mocs trailed at one point 28-10 heading into the fourth quarter, Coleman completed 33-of-58 passes for 432 yards with two TDs and four INTs, as the Mocs rallied for a dramatic 36-28 win. The Mocs also knocked off No. 18 Georgia Southern, 35-27, in the week prior to the dramatic come-from-behind at Furman.
Following his career at UTC, Coleman went on to be drafted into the NFL, and like Martin six years before, had been taken by the Green Bay Packers two rounds later, as he was a seventh-round draft pick (243rd pick) in the 2012 NFL Draft.
Rated as a four-star prep recruit coming out of high school, Chris Forcier had multiple PAC-10 offers when he ultimately opted to spend the next four years of his life in Los Angeles, playing for the UCLA Bruins, which wasn’t all that far from San Diego so friends and family could easily come watch him play on Saturdays. Blessed with tremendous speed and decent arm strength and accuracy, his path along the power conference football trail as UCLA’s next big-time quarterback seemed to have been paved.
Playing for head coach Rick Neuheisel and offensive coordinator Norm Chow—one of the best offensive minds in the game at the time—his game was ready to really take off, as he was groomed to take the lead of the Bruins offense. That is until the spring of 2009 the Bruins’ new coaching staff of Neuheisel and Chow, who arrived after Forcier was already in the program, decided to move Forcier to receiver because of his tremendous speed. Forcier was the older brother of Michigan starting quarterback Tate Forcier.
Forcier opted to transfer to a place where he could play right away, and that meant transferring down to the FCS level. You could say that Furman would reap the benefits of having Ingle Martin come through its program here, when upon doing some research, Forcier discovered Furman as a potential landing spot where he could get he wouldn’t have to sacrifice a good education for transferring out of UCLA, while at the same time getting the opportunity to play right away for the Paladins. The coach at that time was Bobby Lamb, who was the same coach that brought in Martin and had given him the opportunity to lead the Paladin offense from the outset.
After seeing some action but not fully able to get a grasp of Furman’s vast playbook during the 2009 season, Forcier was ready to go in 2010, as he split reps under center with co-starter Cody Worley, and even in the season-opening win against a nationally-ranked Colgate team, raced 85 yards for a score, showing off his tremendous speed and he had Paladin fans talking. It was the sixth-longest rush in school history at the time.
In the second week against No. 10 South Carolina, Forcier suffered a season-ending shoulder injury that de-railed what had looked to be a promising season. To make matters worse, Lamb would be asked to step down at the conclusion of the 2010 season, and the Paladins would have an entirely new coaching staff coming in for the 2011 campaign.
Fortunately, Forcier had a good support network and the new head coach—coach Bruce Fowler (coached Furman from 2011-16) had opted to keep quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Tim Sorrells on staff, giving Forcier some familiarity and comfort. It would also allow Forcier to put together one heck of a final season under center for the Paladins, as he 2,515 yards and 25 touchdown responsibilities during his final season as the Paladins’ starting signal-caller, including recording a Southern Conference record of eight scoring responsibilities in one game against Presbyterian in what was a 62-21 home win over Presbyterian.
With that said, he would put together one of the best individual performances in a single season ever recorded by a Paladin signal-caller. His seven TD passes in a single game and his six in one half also remain league records. His 338.0 passer efficiency rating in that win over PC also ranks seventh in league history.
Forcier would go on to set the single-season passer efficiency rating record, and his rating of 172.36 ranks second to only Marshall’s Michael Payton in 1991 in league history for a single season.
The San Diego native led Furman to wins over No. 5 Wofford (W, 26-21) and No. 3 Appalachian State (W, 20-10) as a senior in 2011, and had the Paladins on the verge of making a return to the FCS Playoffs for the first time in five years, however, the Paladins lost a late-season home contest against Elon, 41-34, meaning they had to beat FBS and SEC East member Florida in the regular-season finale to keep their FCS Playoff hopes alive. Though the Paladins battled and even had a two-score lead at one point in the first half, they eventually lost in their bid to post a major upset and ultimately make the playoff field, dropping the game 52-34.
For his career, Chris Forcier finished playing in a total of 20 games, with 12 starts and completed 155-of-245 passes (63.3%) for 2,404 yards, 24 touchdowns and only nine INTs. His 23 TD passes in 2011 are a school record, while his 25 single-season scoring responsibilities are tied for a single-season school record alongside Martin, who did so in both 2004 and ’05. In his final season as the Paladins’ quarterback, Forcier connected on 148-of-231 passes for 2,265 yards, with 23 TDs and eight INTs. He finished his career with a 7-5 career record as the Furman starter.
The SoCon truly has benefited from some great FBS transfers that have transferred down a level and have had an impact on the schools in which they have transferred to, and in Martin and Kresser’s case, have won both conference and national titles. Nearly all have left an imprint in some form or fashion, whether it be from a team perspective or from a records standpoint, leaving their names in black ink across nearly every school’s media guide long after their graduation, no matter how long or short the stay was.
I had the fortune of being able to follow Ingle Martin’s career throughout his short 27-game career for the Paladins, and I can tell you he was different than any quarterback I’ve ever seen Furman have in my more than three decades of going to games there. His presence and poise were two things that had to have been developed or brought out at a major level playing in the SEC, and he never got upset with himself, despite throwing five INTs in a game Furman’s 2005 SoCon opener at WCU or four in a win at Gardner-Webb in 2004. He was just different.
In conclusion, I think this is what makes ETSU's situation so fascinating. The guys they brought in aren't quarterbacks from the FBS level that we haven't heard of. They played some big games. Not to throw shade at anyone, but this isn't Chase Artopoeus transferring to UTC from UCLA, with some having to look up whether he had even been on the team or was just a student at UCLA.
What I mean is both Jacolby Criswell (North Carolina) and Cade McNamara (Michigan and Iowa) have both started and won big games at big-time programs in their careers prior to ETSU. You can’t put a price on that type of experience and the type of leadership that will yield to the offense.
I will be interested to see if their “presence” and “poise” has the same type of effect that Martin’s did, particularly in late-game situations and when the chips are down, as Martin showed these uncanny traits during his two seasons at Furman some two decades ago.
Just from interviewing them at media day, I sensed a little of that, and I suppose that’s why I think it might be the edge ETSU has that might lift them to the Southern Conference title this fall. I can’t wait to get it all started.
