Sparkman Quarterback Martin On The Move
HARVEST- Sparkman High senior football player Hunter Martin is on the move. In the Senators’ third game of the 2018 season versus Grissom, Martin earned his first starting role as quarterback moving to the signal caller position from being one of the team’s elite wide receivers.
Trailing 13-10 with little more than 60 seconds to play, Martin hit wide receiver Rondell Cole for a 60-yard touchdown pass to give the undefeated Senators (3-0) a 17-13 victory and Martin’s first victory as a starter at the quarterback position.
“The feeling was amazing as I’ve waited patiently for the opportunity to make the move in playing positions,” said Martin, who finished the victory with 181 yards on 8/13 passes. “Hitting Rondell, who is now captain of the corps of receivers, was most definitely a great feeling.”
“He’s a good team leader and the other players know and respect him as he will most likely get the majority of the snaps for us,” said Laron White head coach of Sparkman. “It’s not a surprise he played well. He does things you just can’t draw up in a playbook. He’s very elusive and extends plays when he needs to.”
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound athlete played basketball through his freshman year before going solo with football. He began playing on the gridiron as a middle school student at Sparkman Middle School where he played quarterback. Upon his arrival in high school he switched to wide receiver, although he remained a quarterback on the school’s junior varsity squad.
As a junior he was backup quarterback while starting at wide receiver. He missed a lot of the spring workouts, but bowed up and took command of his talents and worked feverishly at bolstering his techniques at both wide receiver and quarterback.
He was officially listed as a backup to starter sophomore Jacob Medlen only to see Medlen suffer a knee injury in the second game of the season, which put a governor of sorts on his forward progress.
In the game versus Grissom, Martin bypassed Brandon McNeal on the quarterback depth chart and took over the reins of calling plays and leading the charge to victory. The move was not only a success for the team, but extremely gratifying for Martin.
“I like to be the center of attention and I have the opportunity to change plays at the line, though I need to work on my coverage reads of the opponents’ defenses,” said Martin. “I also like the fact when a play breaks down I have more control of what will happen with the play. I say that, but I do miss being a wide receiver.”
White said of his new signal caller, “He has a good arm and doesn’t have great mechanics as a quarterback as he’s sort of unorthodox, but just as strong as the others.”
Martin said he would love to attend North Alabama in college has the Florence based school has pursued the multi-position athlete. He has twice visited the Lions’ campus.
Given the nickname “1-K Hunt” by his teammates, Martin is proud of his recent move among the Senators, but understands he will have to perform up to high expectations or a return move could be in his future.
