Iowa football: Hawks get major win in Oliver Martin eligibility ruling

The Iowa football program has been anxiously awaiting Oliver Martin’s eligibility ruling, and we finally got our answer. Martin is eligible!

It’s been a long, drawn-out saga from the time former four-star recruit and Iowa City native Oliver Martin decided to enter the transfer portal until today when he was officially ruled eligible to play immediately for the Iowa football team in 2019.

For the past month, we have been looking into any little hint or sign that could point us in the right direction for which way this ruling was going to go.

It’s nice to take a deep breath and relax because Oliver Martin is officially eligible!

The news was reported first by Chad Leistikow, and he did a great write-up of how everything came together here.

This ruling is a huge win for the Iowa football team that has struggled to get its’ way in the past with the NCAA, specifically in the case of Drew Ott.

Now, after losing it’s top three receivers from last year, the Iowa football team actually managed to restock and put together possibly the best group of five wide receivers the Kirk Ferentz era has seen.

Not knowing what to expect with Martin, the Iowa football team’s coaching staff was also getting Tyrone Tracy Jr and Nico Ragaini prepared to take the field, and they have looked phenomenal throughout camp.

Now, instead of stepping in right away as the starting slot wide receiver, these duties can be handed off to Martin, who has played big-time football before. Last year, as a redshirt freshman, Martin played in 7 games, catching 11 passes for 125 yards and 1 touchdown.

This leaves the wide receiver group deep, and we are likely to see a few more 4 and 5 wide receiver sets than we have in the past to try and maximize the talent on the field.

I was already incredibly excited for Iowa football season to start, but now I can’t wait to see the former four-star recruit take the field for the black and gold.