Steven Sipple: After another sterling UFL effort, former Nebraska QB Adrian Martinez seemingly moves closer to realizing childhood dream
Adrian Martinez has been a topic of conversation among Nebraska football fans for what seems like a long time.
Maybe you’d say seven years is a long time.
“I’ve played a lot of ball,” the 24-year-old says with a chuckle.
Martinez plans to keep playing for years to come. And, yes, he’s still a topic of conversation because of what he’s doing this spring for the Birmingham Stallions of the United Football League. In short, he’s the runaway favorite to claim league MVP honors as the season enters its final stages.
He only enhanced his MVP chances by accounting for five touchdowns — three passing and two rushing — as Birmingham defeated Houston 35-28 on Saturday night to improve to 8-0.
A native Californian — who started 38 games for Nebraska from 2018 to 2021 — Martinez will tell you he is determined to stay in the present even as media and fans bring up his interesting past as well as what appears to be a bright future, perhaps in the NFL.
Along those lines, Martinez obviously has responded well to being waived by the Detroit Lions last August. Did he consider moving on from football at that point?
“That thought never crossed my mind,” Martinez told me last week. “It was always, ‘I need to find the right opportunity.’ I know the kind of player that I am right now is an NFL-caliber quarterback.”
His confidence is striking.
“I still have that belief,” he continued. “It really was about: How can I get myself back to getting that right opportunity and making sure I make the most of it?”
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Martinez makes most of time with Birmingham
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Martinez this spring surely has attracted the attention of NFL teams. He’s 102 for 169 passing (60.4%) for 1,375 yards and 13 touchdowns, with only two interceptions. He leads the league in rushing with 44 carries for 431 yards (9.8 ypc) and three more scores.
His confidence and poise were evident in Saturday night’s triumph.
Keep in mind, the UFL is full of players who’ve played in the NFL or aspire to play in it.
“I’d say I’m honestly in the minority in that I only had training-camp experience,” Martinez said.
His rough initial go-round with the NFL adds to his hunger.
“Detroit definitely was a learning experience in that I got to see what it looked like,” he said. “Now, I’m trying to apply the things I learned.”
He felt he was close to making the Lions’ 53-man regular-season roster. As he recounts the experience, you get a sense of the cold business aspect of the NFL.
“You know, I got every indication that I was going to make the team, and that’s from the team as well,” he said. “That’s just the business. They don’t owe you any answers, and I definitely didn’t get any.”
Veteran Jared Goff was stellar last season in leading the Lions to the NFC Championship Game. Teddy Bridgewater, 31, was the backup but has since retired from the NFL. Former Tennessee Volunteers signal-caller Hendon Hooker, 26, appears to be the favorite to be the backup in 2024-25.
After being cut by Detroit, an important period in Martinez’s life began as he experienced an intriguing part of the NFL that tends to get overlooked.
Martinez gets a slew of workouts with NFL teams
With the Detroit wound still fresh, Martinez went straight to a workout with the New York Giants.
“That’s really what my fall consisted of, which was getting random calls and flying across the country to go work out for teams,” he said.
So, as he worked as an intern in Nebraska’s athletic department, Martinez also worked to stay in shape. It was the first time he didn’t play for a team in the fall since he was 6 or 7.
All told, he was brought in for workouts by seven NFL teams. Bottom line, he had to stay “game” ready at all times.
“It’s really random,” he said. “It could be a Friday. It could be a Monday. You get a call from a team that says, ‘Hey, we want to work you out. Here are the flight details, the hotel.’ Then, all of a sudden, I’m in Cleveland, throwing at 8:30 in the morning on a random Wednesday.
“You usually stay at a team hotel, then they shuttle you to their facility in the morning. Depending on how that team conducts business, you might have medical (tests) for the first four hours of the day where you’re getting MRIs and X-rays, and doctors are checking you out. All in all, it’s pretty much a full-day thing. You talk to scouts, coaches, whoever it may be.
“They might tell you they love you, or they might tell you, ‘Hey, we’re OK.’”
OK without you, is what Martinez meant.
“That’s all part of the business, and I do think it’s an unseen part with guys who are on the fringe (of making an NFL team),” he said. “It’s not just quarterbacks. It’s receivers, tight ends, d-linemen, DBs — it’s just dependent on what a team is looking for.
“You could be in a workout with five or six different guys, all different positions.”
So, yes, Martinez is on the fringe of making it in the NFL, or maybe he’s now even closer than the “fringe” to realizing his childhood dream of playing in the most popular sports league in America.
“If I were to look back 20 years from now, I would want to say I gave everything I had to this goal — that I emptied the tank toward this goal,” he said. “For me, this is all part of the story.”
You don’t just give up easily on a dream
That’s what this Martinez story is about, right? It’s about chasing your dreams. More important, it’s about continuing that chase when doors are slammed in your face, which is what Martinez encountered in Detroit.
You might even find inspiration in Martinez’s story. He’s endured quite a bit to get to this point. During his time playing for Nebraska, he became a polarizing figure. I’ve said it before: He became polarizing even though his personality is anything but polarizing. He’s one of the classiest quarterbacks to play for Nebraska, even though he was widely criticized for his play.
Yes, he struggled with turnovers. He threw 45 touchdown passes for the Huskers, and 30 interceptions. But he’s worked hard to become better in the passing game — he’s seemingly matured into being a better decision-maker — and heaven knows he can run.
Yeah, he’s still looks excellent thundering down a football field.
In talking to Martinez last week, his off-field maturity also continues to show. Even as a freshman in college, his poise in front of the media was striking to me. As his time in Lincoln progressed, it was clear to me that someday he could lead a company and thrive in a boardroom setting.
He’s a gifted communicator. You still hear it as he tells you that at this point in his playing career, “It’s not a time of reflection, it’s a time of action.”
That’s perfect, isn’t it?
We can all learn from someone like Martinez.
He’s chasing a dream, and he won’t give up on it easily.
He’s staying firmly in the present and thriving, with a future that looks more promising by the week.
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