Iowa football: Identifying the confusing pieces of the Oliver Martin situation

Eight games in, and the situation involving Oliver Martin and the Iowa football team is just confusing. Here’s what isn’t adding up.

Through eight games, high-profile transfer wide receiver Oliver Martin has 5 catches for 28 yards and 1 touchdown. If you would have told Iowa football fans that would be the Iowa City native’s stat line 67% of the way through the season, they would have laughed.

Heck, I would have too. I figured the Hawks would spread the ball around (as they have), but  I thought significantly more of the wealth would go to Martin than what has.

And just about every time I think it’s going to happen, it doesn’t.

In game one, everyone knew it would be some time before Martin came on the field as he had just a few months to practice with the Iowa football team, but there he was in the second half catching his first touchdown pass on his first reception as a Hawkeye in front of his hometown crowd.

That got the juices flowing.

The following week against Rutgers, he hauled in two more catches and had a rushing attempt.

He didn’t play against Iowa State, but honestly, that was just such a weird game, I didn’t even bat an eye.

In week four, he got one more catch against Middle Tennessee State, and that was it. Things were certainly going to trend upwards for him though, right?

Radio silence from Oliver Martin.

At this point, I was thinking, “Alright, well the other wide receivers are stepping up. Obviously, you have Brandon Smith and Ihmir Smith-Marsette as the starters, but redshirt freshmen Nico Ragaini and Tyrone Tracy Jr were doing well too”.

As I am thinking this, in emerges Oliver Martin in a crucial red zone play against Michigan where the Iowa football team proceeds to attempt a fade route to Martin.

So wait, you decided to call a touchdown play for your number five wide receiver in the most important game of the young season? Things weren’t adding up.

But leave it to the Hawks to subsequently leave Martin dead on arrival for the next three matchups against Penn State, Purdue, and Northwestern.

The Northwestern game is where it got even more confusing though. With Brandon Smith out with an injury, all wide receivers moved up a slot, prompting me to believe Martin was going to get some meaningful minutes on the field. This was compounded by the poor performance of Ragaini who had two legitimate drops and one so-so drop while also being removed from punt return duty.

As expected, the Oliver Martin questions came pouring in when the Iowa football team’s assistants were available to the media this week, but instead of providing clarity, it left me with more questions. Read this article (specifically the quote at the bottom) and tell me you don’t agree.

So what in the heck is going on? The quote makes it seem like Martin isn’t ready or isn’t improving, but you want to put him in for one of the most important plays of one of the most important games of the season?

Was that a test or a mistake? And if it’s because that’s the one play he knows how to run successfully, that’s just leaving us one-dimensional when he is on the field because an opposing team knows that it is coming.

Right now, things just aren’t adding up for me and they shouldn’t be for Iowa football fans either.