Ingle Martin

As a junior, he completed 97 out of 140 passes for 1,450 yards and 14 touchdowns. As a senior in 2000, he completed 62 out of 137 passes for 964 yards with seven touchdowns and he also rushed for 935 yards. In 2000, he made six field goals in nine attempts in 2000, with three field goals of more than fifty yards, including a school-record kick of fifty-six yards.[3]

College career

Florida

Martin was heavily recruited by the Tennessee Volunteers, LSU Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide and Virginia Cavaliers programs before accepting an athletic scholarship offer to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.^[2] Martin played for coach Steve Spurrier and coach Ron Zook's Florida Gators football team from 2001 to 2003.^[4]

As a freshman, the Gators coaching staff decided to redshirt Martin and he worked as a member of Florida's scout team, winning the Gators' John Eibner Award, which is presented annually to the Gators scout team's "unsung hero."^[2] As a sophomore in 2002, he played in twelve of thirteen games, primarily as the backup to the starting quarterback, Rex Grossman, but he also served as the starting punter in seven games and played as a wide receiver in eight games.^[2] As a passer, he completed seven of ten passes for ninety-six yards, and also caught two passes for fourteen yards and rushed eleven times for fifty-one yards; as a punter, he averaged 35.2 yards on forty-six punts.^[2]

During his junior season in

After the end of his junior season at Florida, Martin transferred to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, where he had two successful years and set a number of passing records for the Furman Paladins football team.

In 2004, his first season at Furman, Martin led the most balanced offense in school history (an average of 226.2 rushing yards and 228.8 passing yards per game). He started all 13 games, completing 198 of 320 passes (61.9%) for 2,792 yards, 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Martin also carried 62 times for 292 yards (an average of 4.7 yards per attempt) and three touchdowns. He gained 3,084 yards on 382 plays, an average of 237.2 yards per game in total offense. Martin also punted 10 times for 308 yards (an average of 30.8 yards per punt, with six of his kicks being downed inside the 20-yard line.

In 2005, Martin was a Division I FCS first-team All-American selection at quarterback by The Sports Network, and earned first-team All-American honors as a punter from 1-AA.org. He also won All-Southern Conference first-team honors at both quarterback and punter. Martin was named All-South Carolina as a quarterback by the South Carolina state sportswriters. He also won, Furman's Vince Perone (team most valuable player) Award following his senior season.

Martin served as team captain, starting 14 games. On the season, he completed 212 of 349 passes attempted (60.7%) for 2,959 yards, a new team single-season record, 20 touchdowns (second behind his 2004 total) and 13 interceptions. He also rushed 77 times for 232 yards (an average of 3.0 yards per attempt) and five touchdowns. Martin accounted for 3,193 yards in total offense, also a school record, on 426 plays, an average of 227.9 yards per game. He punted 34 times for 1,446 yards (an average of 43.2 yards per punt—third-best season record in team history) with the longest being 70 yards, as 11 kicks were downed inside the 20-yard line and eight others resulted in fair catches. Only 13 of Martin's punts were returned, finishing with a 38.79-yard net average.

Martin started every game during his two seasons at Furman, setting new school records for passing yards (5,761), passing touchdowns (42), and total offense (6,277), while finishing second in career touchdown completions (50) and passer rating (147.65), and third in completion percentage (61.3%, 410-of-669). Martin also rushed the ball 139 times for 524 yards (3.8 avg) and eight touchdowns, accounting for 6,275 yards in total offense on 808 plays. He also punted 44 times for 1,754 yards (39.9 avg) with 17 kicks downed inside the 20-yard line while only 24 of his punts were returned, finishing with a 36.27-yard net average.

Professional playing career

Overall NFL stats

Although he was on the roster for multiple seasons, Martin was only on field for a total of 2 plays during one single game of his NFL career.

Green Bay Packers

Martin was selected in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers.^[5] Martin signed with the Packers on July 28, 2006.^[6] He served as the Packers third-string quarterback behind former first round pick Aaron Rodgers and starter Brett Favre. On August 25, 2007, he was released by the Packers.^[7]

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans signed Martin to their practice squad on September 2, 2007. Martin was released during final cuts on August 30, 2008.

Kansas City Chiefs

After

Martin was signed by the Denver Broncos on August 26, 2009, after an injury to quarterback Chris Simms. He was waived on September 4.

New York Sentinels

Following his NFL career, Martin left for the UFL. He joined one of 6 inaugural teams of the UFL, the Sentinels. However, he left after only a season, and UFL folded in 2012.

Coaching career

Since 2011, Martin has been the head high school football coach at Christ Presbyterian Academy, a private school located in Nashville, Tennessee, where his wife also served as the varsity softball coach until she retired in 2014. ^[8]

Family

Martin's wife, Jennifer, is an alumna of the University of Alabama who made two trips to the College World Series with the Alabama Crimson Tide softball team.^[9] His father-in-law, Mike Wright, was a 12th-round selection (308th pick overall) of Cincinnati Bengals in the 1980 NFL draft. Wright was also drafted by the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB).^[9]

See also

• List of Furman Paladins in the NFL Draft
• List of Furman University alumni
• List of Green Bay Packers players

References