Tate Martell is no longer at Ohio State, and he considered leaving before the 2018 season even started, according to Kyle Rowland of the Toledo Blade.
Rowland reports that Martell was one day late to the team's fall camp this season and both Urban Meyer and Ryan Day talked him out of transferring.
Ultimately, he did transfer, and a major reason why was Meyer's retirement and the resulting staff turnover, Martell's attorney Travis Leach told Rowland. That staff turnover, among other things, will be used to make his case for immediate eligibility next season.
From Rowland's report:
“That definitely is part of it,” Leach told The Blade when asked about the coaching staff. “You try to throw as much against the wall as you can. I think the fact that there were some circumstances that happened, some personality clashes at the school — we want to be fair to everyone involved. That’s the approach we’re going to go down.”
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“You try and align the facts as best you can,” Leach said. “Each one of these cases is a little bit different. You look at what are the reasons for the transfer, what happened, why didn’t it work, and then can you take those reasons and does it meet the NCAA’s requirements for a waiver? I think we have a couple opportunities.
“There were some things that happened at Ohio State that we can potentially get some relief from the NCAA, and we’re going to try it that way. The coaching staff turnover is an issue. There are a few things. There’s no real bright-line test that tells you 100 percent how you can get a waiver. This is a tough one, but there are some good facts on his side.”
Martell was on track to graduate from Ohio State this spring, Rowland reports, which would have made him a graduate transfer candidate and guaranteed him immediate eligibility at his transfer destination.
Instead, Martell is transferring this semester and applying for a hardship waiver for immediate eligibility, allowing him to compete for the starting job during spring practice.
