T-Mart's high school days

[03HuskerAlum]

Anybody know the story behind why he attended 3 different high schools in a 4 year period? Just curious.

[Ratt Mhule]

Anybody know the story behind why he attended 3 different high schools in a 4 year period? Just curious.

 

Players and fans refused to call him T-magic...

[bleedNUred]

I'd be curious to know why as well, hopefully somebody can shed some light on this.

[suh_fan93]

He kept on getting caught running in the halls. Finally decided to give in.

 

[Foppa]

Maybe the girls in his high schools just weren't hot enough for him?

[jsneb83]

They never let him throw. They always had him running for some unknown reason.

[bshirt]

They never let him throw. They always had him running for some unknown reason.

 

 

lol!

 

good one.....

[Ratt Mhule]

I love how this thread has just become a bunch of jokes when the OP probably really wants to know. The only thing I can think of is his family moved a lot. Maybe a military family?

[dustinl15]

The only thing I can think of is that he or his parents wanted him to play at a school that would gain him the most national attention. From Huksers.com

Centennial finished No. 2 nationally in the USA Today's final prep rankings.

I wasn't able to find past national high school rankings but that is almost what it seems to me.

[JOEY]

Maybe it’s one of those john Conner situations where he has to constantly be running from the terminator.

[Vizsla1]

Maybe it’s one of those john Conner situations where he has to constantly be running from the terminator.

 

That is funny unless your dad is Bruce Banner. I do not know his background either. That is some serious moving around. Were the schools in similar zip codes/cities? If they were within 15-20 miles of each other and his father wasn't Bruce Banner or his mom Sarah O'Connor, than maybe they flipped houses for a living.

[03HuskerAlum]

Maybe it’s one of those john Conner situations where he has to constantly be running from the terminator.

 

That is funny unless your dad is Bruce Banner. I do not know his background either. That is some serious moving around. Were the schools in similar zip codes/cities? If they were within 15-20 miles of each other and his father wasn't Bruce Banner or his mom Sarah O'Connor, than maybe they flipped houses for a living.

 

 

It's my understanding that they are all in the same general area and 2 of them (Norco and Centennial) are in the same town of Corona. I also read somewhere that there was some controversy regarding his eligibility going into his senior year due to some transfer rule...FWIW

[95huskers]

This gives a little insight but not many details

My link

 

 

 

His long journey comes to fast end

Martinez, who has played at three high schools, has Corona Centennial on verge of a perfect season.

December 19, 2008|Ben Bolch

The passes that convinced his teammates that Taylor Martinez might be the next great quarterback at Corona Centennial High didn't lead the Huskies to victory or even account for a first down.

 

They came while Martinez wore street clothes and casually flung the ball to his future teammates at a practice last year before attaining his transfer eligibility.

 

 

 

 

"Just him throwing the ball on the sideline caught my eye," receiver Ricky Marvray said. "He just flicked his wrist and it went so far."

 

Martinez's coach, Matt Logan, was similarly astounded by his new quarterback's speed once he took the field.

 

"It looks like he's barely running and he's outrunning guys who are fast," Logan said. "It's just amazing."

 

Martinez is a senior, but is in only his second varsity season at quarterback.

 

Martinez led Centennial to a victory over Santa Ana Mater Dei and an undefeated run to the Southern Section Inland Division championship -- two feats that his highly touted predecessor, Matt Scott, couldn't pull off as a senior before heading to Arizona.

 

Tonight comes an even bigger challenge: Centennial (14-0) will play Concord De La Salle (12-1) in a CIF Division I state football championship bowl game at the Home Depot Center. It's a rematch of a game the Spartans won, 37-31, last December in Carson after fending off a Huskies rally from a 31-7 deficit.

 

Martinez has a sense of the historical significance that a victory over De La Salle would generate. Spartans Coach Bob Ladouceur has compiled a Harlem Globetrotter-esque career record of 343-21-3, and his team's 2006 loss to Canyon Country Canyon at the Home Depot Center was its only postseason defeat in the last 17 years.

 

"It's going to be an honor to go up against De La Salle," Martinez said. "Hopefully we can beat them and become state and national champions."

 

With the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Martinez operating out of a no-huddle, spread offense that has averaged 40 points per game this season, he is a danger to everyone -- his receivers included. Marvray said his quarterback throws the ball so hard he nearly dislocated several of his fingers catching his passes.

 

Norco Coach Todd Gerhart said Martinez reminds him of former USC and Chicago Bears quarterback Vince Evans, whose passes would leave a cross mark on receivers' chests at the point of impact.

 

"He's probably too strong for most high school kids," Gerhart said of Martinez. "The velocity of his ball is at a different level."

 

Martinez also has a robust voice that he utilizes on audibles in about half of Centennial's offensive plays. He looks to the sideline to receive the call from receivers coach Jeremy Gaines, who has conferred with four other coaches wearing headsets. Martinez also has input.

 

"He does make some decisions out there," Logan said. "Sometimes it is changing the play or changing the direction of the play."

 

 

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Martinez's high school career has been one long audible. He spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Norco, where he played free safety before a hamstring injury forced him to miss his sophomore year.

 

"Norco is a running offense and there's no point for me to be a quarterback there because all I'll be doing is handing off the ball and throwing just a couple of times a game," Martinez said.

 

Martinez transferred to San Bernardino Cajon during the middle of his sophomore year after a family friend offered his father a job there as an assistant coach. As a junior, Martinez played quarterback for the Cowboys, accounting for about 1,500 yards combined passing and rushing.

 

But he departed after the end of the first semester, enrolling at Centennial. Martinez said the move was triggered by a family situation that involved complications during his mother's pregnancy.

 

He filed for a hardship waiver to play football for the Huskies that was denied, forcing his family to move into the Centennial district so he could attain eligibility.

 

Perhaps the most telling thing about the moves is that there is no animosity among the coaches Martinez left behind.

 

"I would have liked to have kept him," Gerhart said.

 

Said Cajon Coach Kim Battin: "It's hard to argue with the season he's had at Centennial."

 

Martinez has had such a prolific year, completing 58.7% of his passes for 2,751 yards and 28 touchdowns with seven interceptions, that he was the runaway winner of the Big VIII League's most valuable player award.

 

"It was hands down," Gerhart said. "No one even nominated anyone against him."

 

Martinez has committed to Nebraska, but he will face stiff competition to play his chosen position in college, where he might be used at safety depending on how he fares against other quarterback candidates.

 

But anyone who doubts Martinez can pull it off should consider his arm strength, his speed -- and his nickname. Martinez signs off text messages with the phrase "Taylor Magic," a reference that could also refer to his charmed career at quarterback.

 

--

 

ben.bolch@latimes.com

[95huskers]

My link

 

 

 

 

CIF-State rejects Centennial transfer Martinez's hardship appeal ... next stop Cajon?

By John Murphy on May 5, 2008 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Transfer quarterback Taylor Martinez had his hardship appeal to play football and basketball at Corona Centennial denied by the CIF-State panel, Prep-dog has learned.

 

Martinez was an-All San Andreas League quarterback at Cajon last season, before changing schools.

 

CIF-SS spokesman Thom Simmons confirmed the news to Prep-dog at 9 a.m. today. He added that Martinez's hardship appeal was initially denied by CIF-SS.

 

As in the David Dash case, the Martinezes then appealed that decision and it went to the CIF-State panel and was recently denied there as well, Simmons said.

 

Martinez started last season at Cajon, then transferred for family reasons, according to what Casey Martinez (the boy's father) told the dog last Friday.

 

The dog cannot recall the exact details of that conversation, as I was mired in a few other controversial stories. But I have emailed Casey Martinez to get a reaction.

 

I asked Simmons if Martinez could transfer elsewhere and play, or go back to Cajon and be eligible.

 

He said the promising QB could stay at Centennial and play junior varsity or return to Cajon and play varsity for the Cowboys. If he were to transfer elsewhere - Riverside Notre Dame, just to pick a school at random - the transfer cannot be for athletic purposes, Simmons said.

 

After speaking with Simmons, I chatted briefly with Casey Martinez, who was en route in his car to a business meeting. He said he will email me later today.

 

As I am writing this, Centennial coach Matt Logan just returned my call.

 

"I think that happened," Logan said of the denial by CIF-State. "He is in my PE class and he's a student at the school and he was working on getting his eligibility."

 

That's all Logan had to say.

 

Then I contacted Cajon and spoke with Cowboys athletic director Rich Imbriani regarding this breaking story.

 

Asked for his reaction, Imbriani said: "Well, you know me, kids are always welcome here."

 

Regarding Martinez's play last season for the Cowboy, Imbriani said: "He did a good job, he was an all-league quarterback."

 

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but if Martinez does return to Cajon (what CIF-SS calls his "host school"), the Cowboys will be loaded. They already have the dynamic Walter Kazee at running back and received a blue-chip transfer after last season when defensive back/wideout Marlon Pollard arrived on their doorstep as a transfer.

 

Here is what rivals.com recruiting specialist Richard Kimbrel wrote about Martinez in an article last week, assuming he would be the Centennial QB.

 

Centennial narrowly lost to De La Salle in last season's state playoff bowl Division I title game:

 

"He's not just an athletic quarterback who runs, but he has the arm to run Centennial's high flying offense, which demands the quarterback to be able to throw as well as run.

 

Martinez is currently being recruited by BYU, Iowa State, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Michigan and UCLA, among others. He is being looked at for either side of the ball as a quarterback or free safety.

 

The scouting report on Martinez is he has the athleticism to play quarterback or free safety on the D-I level. As a defensive player, he has amazing instincts, tackling, smartness and is a sure tackle who loves to hit. As a quarterback he has outstanding feet and can make plays with his arm and his feet.

 

Martinez also has excellent bloodlines. His dad played safety for Iowa State in the 80's where he held numerous records.

 

Definitely one to watch this fall." >

 

-0-

Read my blog at

 

www.insidesocal.com/sb/prepdog

 

John Murphy

(909) 386-3853 (office)

berdooman@aol.com

[Ratt Mhule]

+1 95huskers, good research!