Transfer portal notebook: 2 oft-criticized QBs come through big on same day

If you’ve followed the careers of Adrian Martinez and Bo Nix, you know there have a been a few highs but also a lot of lows. For instance, both left their previous schools – Nebraska for Martinez, Auburn for Nix – as the career record-holder in total offense. But there also were a lot of losses and uneven play, and transferring seemed in the best interest of both sides.

Well, both are coming off fantastic performances this past Saturday, including Martinez’s best game as a collegian.

Martinez guided Kansas State to a 41-34 upset at Oklahoma. (Sort of unreal: It was the Wildcats’ third upset of a top-10 OU team in the past four seasons.) Nix, meanwhile, rallied Oregon past Washington State 44-41 in the final minutes.

In the victory over the Sooners, Martinez piled up 384 yards of total offense and accounted for five TDs. In K-State’s first three games, Martinez had totaled 453 total yards and five TDs. Against O, Martinez rushed for 148 yards and a career-high four TDs, and also threw for 234 and another score. The rushing total was the second-highest of his career, behind only the 157 he gained against Rutgers as Nebraska’s quarterback in the final game of the 2020 season.

Martinez had 10,792 total yards at Nebraska; incredibly, that’s almost twice as much as Tommie Frazier, who is sixth in school history with 5,476. But he also was the starting quarterback on four consecutive teams that finished with losing records and never got to a bowl.

In addition, he was 5-17 in one-score games with the Huskers. That record dropped to 5-18 when Martinez and K-State lost to Tulane in the third game of the season. Martinez also had been 0-8 against ranked teams in one-score games until beating the Sooners.

“Beating a team like this, on a team like this, it’s a special feeling and one I’ve never had in my career,” Martinez told reporters after the upset.

Nix has had better games than the one he played Saturday – but not many. He set career-highs in total offense (458 yards) and passing yards (428) as the Ducks rallied from 12 down in the final four minutes. Nix threw three TD passes, all in the second half; two came in the final four minutes. He was 10-of-15 for 122 yards and the two TDs in the fourth quarter, and 18-of-25 for 267 yards and three TDs in the second half.

Nix was a three-year starter at Auburn and had 8,120 total yards, 200 more than Stan White, who was the previous record-holder. He threw 39 TD passes and rushed for 18 scores with the Tigers. But he also threw 16 interceptions, and 16 of his TD passes came as a freshman. In some respects, his freshman season was his best; he opened the regular season by rallying Auburn past Oregon in his first game as a Tiger, then closed the regular season by leading Auburn past Alabama. Auburn finished 9-4 that season, then was a combined 11-9 with Nix as the starter the next two seasons; he finished 5-10 against ranked foes with the Tigers, including a 1-7 mark in his final eight such games.

Saturday’s performance was his second high-level outing in a row, something he rarely was able to do at Auburn. In Week Three, he led the Ducks to a 42-20 trouncing of then-No. 19 BYU by rushing for a career-high three TDs. Then came the rally against the previously unbeaten Cougars, who led by eight at halftime and by 12 on two occasions in the second half, including with four minutes left.

“You just had to tell yourself, ‘It’s just one play at a time,’ ” Nix told reporters about staying calm in the fourth quarter. He added that “Coach (Kenny) Dillingham (the offensive coordinator) got into a great rhythm there in the fourth quarter, and it was just ‘go time’ from there.”

Coach Dan Lanning praised Nix’s cool, saying, “Obviously, there at the end, every possession was really critical. We had to go score touchdowns, and our offense knew that, but I think the offense put the defense on their back and did a great job. … Bo did a great job.”

Nothing like perseverance

One of the best stories of Week Four was Austin Burton starting for injured Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell. Burton is a sixth-year senior who has taken a circuitous route to West Lafayette.

Newton played his first two high school seasons in the Boston suburbs, at Newtown South High. He threw for 3,299 yards and 34 TDs as a junior in 2015, but despite good size (6 feet 3, 215 pounds), he didn’t get much recruiting notice; UMass was his only offer.

That’s when he decided to move to Florida to live with his uncle and attend West Orange High, a solid football program in the Orlando suburb of Winter Garden. He moved in time for spring practice and quickly nabbed the starting job at West Orange, which had advanced to a Class 8A state semifinal in 2015 behind senior quarterback Woody Barrett, who went on to sign with Auburn. Burton showed so much during spring practice and a spring jamboree win over Gainesville (Fla.) High, in fact, that he earned scholarship offers from the likes of Boston College and, later, UCLA. He initially committed to BC, then changed his mind and signed with UCLA, at the time coached by Jim Mora.

He signed with UCLA as part of the 2017 recruiting class, enrolled early, then didn’t play at all in his first two seasons with the Bruins. In 2019, in Chip Kelly’s second season, starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson was injured in the second half of the fifth game, against Arizona, and Burton saw the field for the first time. He made his first start the next week against Oregon State and threw for 236 yards and a TD in a loss. We bring up the TD pass because that was the only one he had thrown in his six-season college career until this past Saturday, when he tossed three to help the Boilermakers ease past FAU 28-26.

After that start against Oregon State in 2019, Burton threw just 14 more passes that season, in mop-up duty in losses to USC and California. He didn’t play at all in 2020, then transferred to Purdue. He saw action in seven games last season as a reserve, rushing 13 times for 38 yards and attempting seven passes. Burton came on at the end of Purdue’s rout of Indiana State in Game Two this season and attempted three passes. Then came Saturday, when he was 21-of-29 for 166 yards and three touchdowns. His last TD pass, with 8:01 left in the game, proved to be the game-winning score.

He proved his moxie by leading Purdue on a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive in the final minute of the first half; it ended with Burton throwing a 12-yard pass to Charlie Jones with 18 seconds left to give Purdue a 14-13 halftime lead it never relinquished.

Burton attempted 41 passes in that 2019 loss to Oregon State but had thrown just 24 since.

When meeting with reporters after Saturday’s win, Burton jokingly referred to that Oregon State start: “That feels like a century ago.” He also said his goal was “just to try to make the most of it and maximize the moment.” Mission accomplished.

Transfers in the spotlight

There are some interesting portal stories with this week’s schedule. Here are five.

+ USC LB Eric Gentry vs. Arizona State: Gentry, who leads the Trojans with 32 tackles, will be going his against his former team. He has had at least seven tackles in all four USC games this season; he had 45 tackles for Arizona State as a true freshman last season. Gentry also has a pick and two pass breakups for USC, which leads the nation with a plus-15 turnover margin.

+ UCLA EDGE Laiatu Latu vs. Washington: As a true freshman at Washington in 2019, Latu flashed some big-time pass-rush potential. But a neck injury in 2020 kept him out of action that fall, and it was announced in April 2021 that he was giving up football. But he has given it another go after transferring to UCLA and has five sacks, which is third nationally. Granted, two of those came against FCS Alabama State and three more against Colorado, which sort of is like an FCS team this season. Still, five sacks is five sacks. Can he make things difficult for new Huskies QB Michael Penix Jr.? Washington has allowed just two sacks this season, tied for sixth-fewest nationally.

+ Arkansas LB Drew Sanders vs. Alabama: Speaking of sacks, Sanders is tied for the national lead with 5.5 (the same number as Michigan State’s Jacoby Windmon, who also is a transfer). Sanders transferred from Alabama after last season because he was behind Will Anderson Jr. and Dallas Turner at Alabama’s outside linebacker spots. Let’s see if Sanders can make an impact against the Tide, who have allowed four sacks.

+ Kentucky CB Keidron Smith vs. Ole Miss: Yet another transfer going against his former school. Smith started 29 games in his four-year Ole Miss career and was a fulltime starter in 2019 and ’20. He had 223 tackles, five picks and 21 pass breakups with the Rebels; he was a corner in his first three seasons, then saw time at safety last season, when he was a part-time starter. Smith was held in high esteem at Ole Miss: He won the school’s prestigious Chucky Mullins Courage Award last season. Ole Miss has relied heavily on its rushing attack this season, so Smith’s work in run support will be big Saturday.

+ SMU QB Tanner Mordecai vs. UCF QB John Rhys Plumlee: OK, neither of these guys is going against his former school. But they will determine Saturday’s winner in a key AAC game. Mordecai, who transferred from Oklahoma after the 2020 season, is all about the pass; he has thrown for 1,385 yards (third nationally, just 3 yards behind Penix, who leads the nation) and 12 TDs (tied for eighth). Plumlee transferred from Ole Miss, where he had been moved to receiver, after last season. He is a run-first quarterback, and leads the league with 404 rushing yards. Plumlee also has thrown for 827 yards but has struggled as a passer against “better” defenses. SMU’s run defense isn’t much; UCF’s pass defense has been solid, but Mordecai is the best passer the Knights will see this season.