Taylor Martinez

Taylor Martinez (born September 15, 1990) is an American football quarterback who plays for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

High school career
Martinez played his senior year of high school football at Centennial High School in Corona, California, where he was a teammate of Vontaze Burfict and Will Sutton. At Centennial, he passed for over 3,000 yards, including 28 touchdowns with a 61 percent pass completion. Taylor also rushed for 750 yards with 12 touchdowns. Not only did Martinez receive multiple awards for his performance but led Centennial to a state championship win and a perfect season (15-0). Centennial High School finished the 2007 season with a 13-2 record and ranked 24 by USA Today. The undefeated 2008 Huskies team won a California Interscholastic Federation state championship and finished the season ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today.

Martinez committed to the University of Nebraska on August 22, 2008. Martinez wasn't heavily recruited by Football Bowl Subdivision schools as the only football scholarship offer he received to play quarterback was from Nebraska.

2009
During the 2009 season, Martinez was redshirted.

2010
After a heated three-way position battle, Martinez emerged over sophomore Cody Green and senior Zac Lee for the majority of the 2010 season as the University of Nebraska's starting quarterback. In October, Martinez was named as a semi-finalist for the Davey O'Brien Award. By early November, the Cornhusker signal caller had built up momentum off a 9-1 start where his offense had seven games of scoring 31 points or more.

Three impressive performances by Martinez came on the road with games against Washington, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State. At the University of Washington on September 18, the Corona, Calif. native busted an 80 yard touchown run on the Husky defense in a 56-21 Husker rout. Martinez finished with three touchdowns while rushing 19 times for 137 yards and completing 7-of-11 passes for 150 yards.

However, T-Magic's performance against Kansas State on October 7 overshadowed his fine outing against Washington as Martinez went wild running 15 times for 241 yards and completing 5-of-7 passes for a lofty 128 yards which included a 79 yard touchdown pass to Kyler Reed in the third quarter. Martinez had touchdown runs of 14, 35, 80, and 41 yards during the contest. Nebraska beat Kansas State, 48-13. His 241 yards rushing set a school record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback and most rushing yards in a game by a freshman.

T-Magic demonstrated accuracy with his passing skills on October 23 in a 51-41 shootout victory against the Oklahoma State Cowboys where the dual threat quarterback completed 23-of-35 passes for 323 yards that included five touchown passes with three of those going to wide receiver Brandon Kinnie for 45, nine, and eight yards. Martinez ran 19 times for 112 yards in the contest at Stillwater, Oklahoma.

In November, Martinez received the 2010 All-Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year award. The Cornhuskers reached the Big 12 Championship Game to face Oklahoma (12-2, ranked No. 6 nationally in the AP College Football Poll by season's end) on December 4 as they finished 6-2 in conference play and first place in the Big 12 North Division under the direction of head coach Bo Pelini. Unfortunately, a twisted ankle Martinez suffered back on October 30 in a 31-17 home win over Missouri wound up being a lingering injury. Oklahoma edged Nebraska, 23-20, as Martinez struggled to get on track while completing 12-of-24 passes for 143 yards. The stout Sooners defense kept the Husker ground game in check as Nebraska managed just 145 yards off 43 rushes.

Martinez finished the season completing 116-of-196 passing attempts for 1,631 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 13 games. The 6-1, 205-pound redshirt freshman ran 162 times for 965 yards while running forward and scoring 12 touchdowns. Nebraska went 10-4 and was ranked No. 19 and No. 20 by the Coaches and AP Polls respectively.

2011
With a preseason No. 10 ranking for the veteran redshirt sophomore starting quarterback, Martinez responded with early season successes and a 7-1 start as the University of Nebraska joined the Big Ten for the first time in the school's history after the realignment of many conferences had changed the college football landscape—which began to take place during the summer of 2010. After a 40-7 win at home on September 3 against overmatched Tennessee-Chattanooga, Martinez put together another fine effort against Fresno State in a game that was close. However, the thrilling end of the contest had T-Magic bolting 46 yards for a touchdown with 2:02 left that put the game out of reach, 42-29. Martinez finished with 15 rushes for 169 yards and completed 10-of-21 passes for 219 yards and two touchdown passes against the Bulldogs.

On October 1, Martinez and Nebraska faced adversity as they had to travel to Madison, Wis. to face AP No. 7 nationally ranked Wisconsin and its talented quarterback, N.C. State transfer Russell Wilson. With 12:45 left to play in the 2nd quarter, Nebraska led 14-7 off 1-yard touchdown runs by Martinez and Rex Burkhead. After that, it was all Wisconsin as Nebraska fell by the score of 48-17. Wilson finished 14-of-20 passing for 255 yards with two touchdowns. Martinez had 20 rushes for 61 yards and completed 11-of-22 passes for 176 yards against the Badgers.

However, Martinez and his teammates rebounded from the Wisconsin loss by recording the biggest comeback win in NU history as the Cornhuskers overcame a 27-6 deficit versus Ohio State. Linebacker Levonte David was the catalyst in the third quarter when he stripped the ball and recovered a fumble. Nebraska responded with 28 unanswered points as the biggest play of the game may have been Martinez' screen pass to Burkhead as the 5-11, 210-pound running back raced 30 yards untouched into the end zone to tie the score at 27-27 with 7:35 left in the contest. Burkhead also scored the game's winning touchdown off a 17 yard run as Martinez finished the game completing 16-of-22 passes for 191 yards with two touchdowns while rushing for 102 yards off 17 carries against the Buckeyes.

Martinez and Nebraska had their first experience in the Big Ten as they finished 5-3 in the conference. T-Magic's signature win came at home against nationally ranked No. 12 Michigan State (10-3) on October 29 as the Blackshirts went to work limiting the Spartans to 187 total yards. Nebraska won, 24–3, and Martinez was safe going 7-of-13 passing the ball for 80 yards and rushing 12 times for 23 yards. He threw a 27 yard touchdown pass to Rex Burkhead in the third quarter against Michigan State.

T-Magic's best performance throwing the football in 2011 came in a 28-25 loss to Northwestern on November 5 as he completed 28-of-37 passes for 289 yards without an interception. Nebraska had two lost fumbles that gave the Wildcats the advantage in this contest. Martinez threw touchdown passes of 15 and 14 yards to Tim Marlowe and Kenny Bell respectively. He had 53 rushing yards on 12 carries against Northwestern.

Additional wins against big-name schools came against Penn State and Iowa. On November 12, Nebraska defeated Penn State on the road, 17-14, and Martinez completed 13-of-26 passes for 143 yards and ran 18 times for 56 yards as his teammate Burkhead totalled 121 rushing yards and two touchdowns. With the Hawkeyes on November 25, Nebraska jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the half led by a Brett Mayer 40 yard field goal and Taylor Martinez' 6-yard touchdown pass to Kyler Reed in the second quarter. Nebraska won the grudge match, 20-7, as Martinez completed 12-of-22 passes for 163 yards without an interception and ran four times for 20 yards.

The 6-1, 200-pound redshirt sophomore led Nebraska to a 9-4 record as the Cornhuskers were nationally ranked No. 24 by the AP College Football Poll. Martinez's statistics for the season had him completing 162-of-288 passes for 2,089 yards with 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The spread option quarterback ran the ball 188 times for 874 rushing yards and scored nine touchdowns in 13 games. Martinez's Cornhuskers were invited to play the nationally ranked No. 10 South Carolina Gamecocks (10-2) in the Capital One-Citrus Bowl on January 2, 2012 in Orlando, Florida. Nebraska lost the game, 30-13.

2012
Leading up to the 2012 season, Martinez was heavily criticized by fans and media for his awkward passing motion and tendency to turn the ball over. During the spring and summer of 2012, Martinez spent time working on his throwing motion with Steve Calhoun, a private quarterback's coach that operates a football camp in California called "Armed and Dangerous." Calhoun was known for his work with college quarterbacks, and had helped prepare some college quarterbacks for the NFL, including Cam Newton and Jake Locker. Nebraska fans were anxious to see a preview of Calhoun's work with Martinez during the 2012 Red/White Spring Football scrimmage, but the game was cancelled for the first time since 1950 due to a severe weather outbreak the day of the game.

Although Martinez had only completed 56% of his passes in 2011, he was confident that his second season as quarterback for in Tim Beck's offense would be better. When asked if he had a completion rate goal for 2012, Martinez responded "70 percent or above." Many fans and media scoffed at this comment in light of his previous completion percentages.

The season opener against Southern Mississippi ended up being a showcase for Martinez's improvement over the spring and summer. Martinez went 26/34 passing with 5 TD's and 0 INT's and lead Huskers to a 49-20 win. His throwing motion improved and no longer appeared to be an issue.

Martinez and the team struggled the following week in a 36-30 loss at unranked UCLA. Although Martinez threw an interception and no touchdowns, he had one of the game's best plays late in the 1st quarter when he ran for a 92 yard touchdown, the longest of his career.

Nebraska won the next two games and then faced Wisconsin at home in the Big Ten opener, where both Adidas sponsored schools wore newly designed alternate uniforms for the first time. Nebraska had been blown out at Wisconsin in the Big Ten opener the year before, and was hoping to avenge that loss. Martinez had been brilliant as a passer to that point in the season, but Wisconsin defensive end David Gilbert wasn't convinced. When asked about Martinez's improvent, he said, "It still looks like he’s skipping rocks out there to me... He still can’t throw. I’m just going to say it. He still can’t throw. He’s not going to beat us with his arm." Gilbert's comments did not concern Martinez. During the game, Wisconsin led by as many as 17 points in the 3rd quarter, but Martinez led scoring drives on 5 of Nebraska's last 6 possessions to take a 30-27 lead late in the 4th quarter—which ended up being the final score. Martinez accounted for all 4 of Nebraska's touchdowns, throwing for 2 and running for 2 more. The victory was Nebraska's 2nd largest comeback in school history, 2nd only to the 21 point comeback win against Ohio State the season before (also featuring Martinez at QB).

The Wisconsin game ended up being a preview of what was to come. After a 38-63 loss at 12th ranked Ohio State the following week, the Cornhuskers went on to win their next 6 games, including 3 more double digit comebacks in the second half. As it was in the Wisconsin game, Martinez played a very important role in all of the comebacks and delivered clutch performances.

After two errant throws were dropped by Northwestern defenders, Martinez completed his next 10 passes on back-to-back scoring drives that gave Nebraska a 29-28 win at Northwestern.

Martinez's best game of 2012 came at Michigan State on November 3rd. Michigan State was 5-4 heading into the game, but featured the best defense statistically in college football at that point in the season, including the best run defense in the Big Ten. Martinez had an outstanding day running the ball, and ended the day with the second best rushing performance of his career with 205 yards on 17 carries. Despite throwing 3 interceptions, Martinez was able to make clutch throws late in the game. Down by 3 with no timeouts and only 1:20 left, Martinez led an 80 yard drive that included a 38 yard completion to Kyler Reed on 4th and 10 at the Nebraska 40 yard line, and the game winning touchdown pass to sophomore WR Jamal Turner with :06 seconds left. Martinez received Player of the Week honors in the Big Ten for his performance. During the game, Martinez passed former Heisman winner Eric Crouch as the all-time leader in total yardage at Nebraska.

Martinez helped lead another comeback the following week against Penn State, where he rushed for 105 yards and threw for 171 more with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Martinez had another fine passing performance in the next game against Minnesota when he completed 72% of his passes for 302 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions.

Nebraska finished the regular season at 10-2, and headed to the Big Ten championship for a rematch with unranked, 7-5 Wisconsin. Nebraska was a 10 point favorite heading into the game. Just when Martinez and the Cornhuskers appeared poised to win their first conference title in more than a decade, their magical season came to a screeching halt in a historically bad defensive performance by the Cornhuskers. They were embarrassed by Wisconsin in a 70-31 loss.

However, despite the loss Martinez still had one of the most incredible runs in college football history. Down 14-0, Nebraska needed a spark. On 3rd and 11 from the Nebraska 23 yard-line, Martinez dropped back to pass. Wisconsin blitzed and Martinez had to scramble to get away. Soon the entire Wisconsin defensive line was pursuing Martinez, and Martinez went as far back as the Nebraska 6 yard-line, still searching for open receivers while dodging Wisconsin defenders. Nearly surrounded by Wisconsin defenders, Martinez somehow found a lane and took off. With a couple of nice blocks from downfield receivers, Martinez was able to weave his way to the endzone. The stat-line for the play shows it as a 76 yard run, but Martinez actually ran more than 100 yards on the play.

After the loss, the Huskers went on to lose to #7 ranked Georgia in the Capital One Bowl 45-31. Martinez was proficient in the loss, throwing for 204 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions (including a late-game desperation throw).

The 2012 Cornhuskers finished the season at 10-4 and Nebraska was ranked No. 25 in the final AP Top 25 Poll. Martinez improved statistically, and had nearly 800 more passing yards, 10 more touchdowns, and a 6% higher completion rate than the season before. He also rushed for more than 1,000 yards in a season for the first time in his career. Although he fell short of his 70% completion goal, it was clear that he had improved his passing while still being a major threat running the ball.

Martinez has already broken many QB records at Nebraska and heads into the 2013 season as one of the top dual threat QBs in the country. Many sports analysts believe that if he continues to work with Steve Calhoun to improve his passing game in the offseason, he could easily be a Heisman trophy candidate in 2013 barring injury.