As his leadership role grows, Martinez is adding some bark to his bite

CHICAGO – Even while being peppered with questions by a pack of 30 or so reporters at a podium during Big Ten Media Days, Adrian Martinez was as calm, cool, and collected as always.

The 19-year-old sophomore has shown a maturity well beyond his years from the day he was first introduced as Nebraska’s starting quarterback last fall, and his demeanor hasn’t wavered once in every public appearance he’s made since.

But when Martinez puts on the pads and steps onto the football field, a different side of him comes out – one that will do whatever it takes to win, and he’ll make sure you hear about it in the process.

Senior defensive end Khalil Davis joined Martinez in Chicago for the media event and said Martinez was as fiery of a competitor as there was on the Huskers’ roster. Davis even told a story of one practice where he gave Martinez a shove after a play (defenders are forbidden to touch QBs in practice, especially those that are starters and Heisman Trophy candidates).

Martinez turned around and tossed the football right into Davis’s face mask.

“I wish he didn’t say that, but that did happen one time,” Martinez admitted with a smile and shake of his head. “That’s how it should be, and there’s no hard feelings or anything like that. I want it to be competitive.

“You’re not supposed to touch the quarterback (in practice), you know how it is, but I want things to be competitive. I want it to be fiery in practice, and if that’s what happens, that’s what happens. I’m still going to go into the locker room and give him a hug after because he’s my guy.”

While Martinez may have preferred to keep that story in-house, it provided a glimpse into his spirit on the field that helped him immediately establish himself as a team leader despite his youth and inexperience.

Head coach Scott Frost said he’d seen Martinez get more comfortable in that leadership role by the day, especially after the former four-star proved himself the way he did last season and earned his teammates’ full respect.

“Adrian was a leader last year, I just think he needed to take a little more ownership of it maybe and be a little more vocal,” Frost said. “Listen, that’s hard when you’re 18 years old and you’re walking into a room full of 21, 22-year-old guys and you’re the newcomer, to bark orders and give commands; to encourage, to be the leader. He did a really god job of it for a freshman. He’s not a freshman anymore, so whatever he did last year, he just needs to ramp it up.”

That progression has gone well beyond showing some fire in practices. Martinez has a true voice on the field and in the locker room now, and he’s making sure he uses it to push everyone around him to be better.

“I am competitive, and I think the offense can feel that, the defense can feel that,” Martinez said. “I want to win each down, each matchup, each play. I try not to be too out there about things, but especially when we’re going against our own team, for whatever reason I like to poke a little bit at the DBs and try to get Mo Barry fired up a little bit. I think it brings out the best in us, and that’s my goal with that.”

Martinez’s swagger has spread throughout the team, and Nebraska has every reason to feel good about itself going into a 2019 season where it’s picked by the conference’s media to win the Big Ten West Division.

But that’s where Martinez’s ability to blend that confidence with focus and humility separates him so many others.

“There’s a reason for us to be confident right now,” Martinez said. “We’ve worked really hard this offseason, and we ended on a really positive note last year… With that being said, we have a lot to prove. We have a lot to earn, and the facts are we won four games last year.

“But that has done nothing but motivate us for this upcoming season. The preseason polls and all that other jazz, it doesn’t really mean anything. It doesn’t. It doesn’t mean anything to me, and it shouldn’t to anyone on our team. It comes down to South Alabama, Week 1, and that’s when we need to prove what type of team we really are.”