Shannon Dawson 'very glad to have' Damien Martinez in Miami's offense

With what he did as an underclassman in Corvallis, Miami is happy to have added RB Damien Martinez this spring to their roster in Coral Gables.

OC Shannon Dawson spoke about Martinez during a press conference at fall camp for the ‘Canes on Tuesday. The main thing that stands out to him about their new running back is how much of the game that he appears to have played in his eyes. It comes naturally to him in how he rushes the ball from what he has seen so far.

“You know, you can tell he’s a mature kid that has played a lot of football,” said Dawson. “He’s very calm out there. Protections come easy to him. You know, he’s very smooth. His ability to cut, lateral movement on blocked players. You can tell he has played a lot of football.”

“Very glad to have him,” Dawson said. “He has got a lot of experience – no substitute for that.”

Martinez spent his first two collegiate seasons at Oregon State. In 25 appearances as a Beaver, he rushed 355 times for 2,167 yards, good for 6.1 per carry and 86.7 per game, and 16 touchdowns. That includes 1,185 yards, which averages out to 98.8 per game, and nine scores as a sophomore last fall.

That production earned Martinez both All Pac-12 and All-American honors in his pair of seasons as an underclassman. 2023’s statistics also earned him consideration for The Doak Walker Award with him now on the preseason watchlist for it going into 2024.

Upon his transfer, Martinez was the No. 2 RB and No. 17 player per On3’s 2024 Transfer Portal Top Players.

There’s a lot of excitement about what Martinez is going to add to the Hurricane offense. It’s now about him spending the rest of this month getting further adjusted to the unit in order to have that impact this fall.

“Glad to have him,” said Dawson. “He just needs to obviously keep learning in the offense, playing with these guys, and gelling together.”

Cam Ward labels Martinez as ‘the real deal’

One former Pac-12 star in QB Cam Ward is getting a lot of attention for Miami. Another one in Damien Martinez is set to be a key part of the Hurricanes offense too.

Ward said at the ACC Football Kickoff that Martinez has been incredibly impressive thus far.

“Just the things that he can do, the way he moves laterally, the way he gets the ball and goes straight downhill, how he can make people miss,” Ward said of what makes Martinez special. “The tape that you see on him, he’s the real deal. I got to see it in person. I’ve seen it in practice. I’m going to see it in fall camp.”

“When you hand six that ball off, you never know what’s going to happen,” Ward said. “It’s going to be a big play. It might just be five yards. But five yards is all you need to keep the chains moving.”