Michigan WR and former Iowa City West player Oliver Martin has entered the transfer portal, and the Iowa football team should push hard for him.
Rumors began circulating late last week that former 4-star wide receiver Oliver Martin was considering transferring. Considering the source of the information and other relevant information, we at Dear Old Gold didn’t think this was actually going to happen. Yet, last night Oliver Martin officially entered his name into the transfer portal, and the Iowa football needs to pursue his services.
Coming out of high school in Iowa’s backyard, the Hawks frankly didn’t do enough to convince Martin to stay in Iowa City. For some strange reason, Iowa football fans were outraged. How could an Iowa City kid not play for the Hawkeyes?
Granted, I don’t know what Oliver Martin was thinking at the time, but here are two things to chew on. First, Michigan was hot on his trail the entire time while Iowa jumped into the game a little later. Second, some kids don’t want to stay in their hometown and go to college.
With Martin officially on the market looking for a new college football team, it seems like Iowa football nation is divided. Should the Hawks actually pursue this kid?
Before I jump into why let me make this simple, the only answer here is yes.
He is an incredibly talented wide receiver. There is a reason he was a 4-star recruit and a top-200 player coming out of high school who held 18 offers.
After not playing his first year in Ann Arbor, Martin quietly had a decent season last year as a reserve wide receiver, hauling in 11 receptions for 125 yards and 1 touchdown. Yet, coming out of Spring practice, Martin is listed on the second string according to Ourlads and according to sources, he may have even been third string.
While the Iowa football team does have a solid set of wide receivers right now, it’s certainly not a perfect group, and it’s definitely an unproven group. The Iowa football team is returning 57 receptions from the wide receiver position with six guys chipping into that number. Juniors Brandon Smith and Ihmir Smith-Marsette are expected to have much bigger roles in the offense without the presence of two All-American tight ends, but there is always room for more talent.
Moreover, with the recently relaxed rules on the transfer portal (which has had quite an impact on the Hawks), it’s a possibility that Martin could finagle his way into playing as soon as this season.
It truly just doesn’t make sense to not pursue Oliver Martin. Whether or not he would be interested after the amount of ridiculous outrage by a certain sector of the Iowa football fanbase though is another question.
I for one would love to see Martin return home to play in the black and gold.
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