DE/LB Chris Martin to transfer out of Florida

By Adam Silverstein
June 24, 2011

Redshirt freshman defensive end/linebacker Chris Martin played what he termed an “early April Fools” joke back in March, claiming that he had been dismissed from the Florida Gators. The University of Florida was not joking Friday evening when it announced that Martin, a former five-star recruit who transferred to Florida from California a year ago, has decided to transfer once again.

“Chris and his family have indicated that it might be best for him to be closer to home,” head coach Will Muschamp said. “We wish him nothing but the best of luck.”

Having never suited up for the Gators, Martin will leave the program without making any notable mark other than having been arrested on Jan. 29 for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The Gainesville Police Department cited Martin for possession of less than two grams after detecting “the scent of the drug coming from [his] vehicle.” He was offered and accepted deferred prosecution by the state.

Martin, who was the best defender in practice last season according to his UF teammates, will be forced to sit out yet another season due to NCAA transfer rules unless he moves to a Division-II program. He was expected to see ample time on the field in 2011.

ESPN.com reports that Martin “had multiple off-the-field issues that played a part in his decision,” according to a source close to the situation.

He will be the fifth Florida player to leave the program since Muschamp arrived. Senior cornerback Janoris Jenkins was dismissed from the team following two marijuana arrests in less than 90 days and redshirt freshman wide receiver Chris Dunkley, freshman WR Javares McRoy and freshman running back Mike Blakely all decided to transfer for various reasons.

27 Comments

  1. Cesar says:

    This is starting to get out of hand. The attrition under Muschamp has been incredible, and we’re not losing nobodies, we’re losing good and great players. Definitely raises some early flags. What’s going on?

    • gator foot ball says:

      get with the program or get out.

    • Mr2Bits says:

      He was a “great” player huh? All that college ball he’s played and all right? He’s spent more time moving than playing football in the last few years. Nobody just decides to up and transfer again unless there was some serious off the field issues. Don’t get wrapped up in stars as most of those players only bring problems and not production.

      • Cesar says:

        Never said Martin was a great player. I said we are losing good (Dunkley/Martin/Blakely) and great (Jenkins) players. And I wouldn’t hesitate to classify players as great when they’re 5 Star blue chip recruits coming out of high school.

        “Don’t get wrapped up in stars as most of those players only bring problems and not production,” is a pretty bold statement. Most? I’m pretty sure stars win championships. Tebow, Caldwell, Haden, Wright, Jenkins, Pounceys, Black, etc. are all stars and I will take some college age mistakes, such as smoking pot, as setbacks if it translates into championships. I can’t think of a single STAR on the recent Gators squads who brought more trouble than production. Closest would be Janoris, and frankly, he was the best player on the team and his production is unquestionable, far outweighing his possession charges.

  2. Zach says:

    Muschamp means business, thats whats going on. Martin was a known pothead and he continued even after Janoris was let go, good riddance.

  3. Brett says:

    Typical when new coach comes wasnt surprised by smaller offensive players transferring. All of the transfers make sense if you look at it. Mcroy wanted to play with his brother, blakley doesn’t for new system saw two bigget backs coming in, Dunley was lazy in the class room. Martin has transferred twice so maybe he’s just not happy anywhere and has the wrong expectations. Minus jenkins none of those guys had even played a down.

  4. CeeThree says:

    besides JJ this one sucks the most. I hope really high hopes for this kid, him and RoPo on opposite sides of one another with Easley and Floyd in the middle?

    one another note.. what the heck is this kid doing? He’s going to waste all his eligibility by transferring around.

  5. David says:

    Who really knows what is going on. It may be that he needs the discipline of having his parents supervising and being nearby. It could be that his parents can no longer afford to fly to see him play. However, I wouldnt be surprised if it was disciplinary, and he expected the laissez faire ways of Urban.

    • David says:

      According to Edward Aschoff, “A source close to the situation told ESPN.com Friday night that Martin had multiple off-the-field issues that played a part in his decision to transfer.”

    • Cesar says:

      I’ll take laissez faire if it translates into wins.

      • David says:

        The two aren’t mutually exclusive. You can be a well-respected program and win. As an alumnus, I care about the image of the program. Great article today in the Gainesville Sun/gatorsports about the years when we were on probation. No matter what, we don’t want to go back to those days. Having student-athletes who don’t listen to their coaches on drugs and school can easily turn into them not listening to their coaches about agents or accepting improper benefits. No one player is above the team, and the team is not above the university.

  6. zurbo says:

    hes gonne be 45 before he plays a down somewhere

  7. SaraGator says:

    He’s trying to fulfill his goal to be a professional (transfer) student!

    Being a parent, I understand wanting him to be close to home. Sounds like he’s still immature and needs to be under close supervision by his family.

    Good luck, Chris!

    Btw… his transfer doesn’t hurt as much as Jenkin’s. Jenoris sounds like he’s a Gator at heart.

    • SC Gator says:

      I imagine he is or he would never have been returning for his senior year.

      As a trend it seems guys who transfer from Florida washout and are not successful elsewhere. Not just the football team either.

      And yes, Newton is the exception to that rule, but keep in mind he ran before he could face likely expulsion. Staying wasn’t an option either.

  8. John S. says:

    Well so much for depth at a position of need. Bad O-line and thin pass defense…must lower expectations.

    This kind of thing is a little frightening…we need to get our s*** together, we only have ~74 players right now.

  9. swiftt_tech69 says:

    This hurts our depth but it dosent kill us. Powell and green will start. Trail,johnson and mcray will add a little depth. Plus the 2 freshman we brought in. Still we have bodies but not a lot of production. Hate to see martin go, I was kinda getting excited about our d line……I still kinda am.

  10. Jesse C says:

    Its going to be a lot easier to sell early playing time for new recruits this year. I bet we land a monster class of quality. I hope we can stay healthy with the players we have and that our coaches have a few tricks up their sleeves for our opponents.

    • Tractorr says:

      I hope you are right but if we go 7-5 or 8-4 with some bad losses, I don’t think we will have a monster recruiting class. Also, the biggest key to a good recruiting class this year is beating FSU (look at the commits the already have). If Florida loses to the Noles there will be a seismic shift in in-state recruiting which will take years to claw back to the top.

      • Jesse C says:

        By monster I meant a large number of signees since we will so thin everywhere (except CB). But you are right in that if we lose too many games and look like fools in the process (see MSU and USC games last year), it will be hard to get the kids with all the stars. In-state recruiting will take a hit but looking at this year’s class, it appears that we are targeting and landing a lot more out of state kids. All in all, its hard to predict what is in store for us this year.

  11. Basshole says:

    After thinking about it for a bit, I don’t think you can put a positive spin on this one. A lot of people were excited to see this kid play and it sucks that he is leaving. Maybe he has some issues to deal with, but I’ll bet he would have been a good player and it certainly hurts our depth.

    • Jesse C says:

      You’re absolutely right, I was talking up all my buddies about this kid and my excitement just went up in smoke.

  12. tank says:

    So one of the best defensive players and an apparent starter decides to transfer after a great spring? Seems that this kid had more problems than have surfaced. More than likely this is a good thing.

    On another note, Muschamp needs to buy these kids vaporizers and teach them to be more discrete with their weed.

  13. swiftt_tech69 says:

    Danter fowler anyone? Yeah he was raved about in practice and he had 5*s. But he was not going to start (powell and willie green), plus the kid never played a down, has been arrested and has tranferred twice……better to be safe than sorry. Plus omar hunter was a 5* guy that dosent always equal production.

  14. swiftt_tech69 says:

    And the notion that if we lose “badly” or go 7-5 is just silly. Contrary to popular belief these kids aren’t as fickle as the fans. Good recruiters make good classes. We dominated fsu for 6 years in a row….they never had a class out of the top ten. They had several terrible losses during that stretch (usf @ doak, wf) just to name a few. I think our clas so far is excellent, its not even sept and we have 13 commits……so relax and watch as we finish in the top 5 (espn,rivals,scout). Go gators…..BOOM!

Leave a Reply to Basshole Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux