While at the University of Tennessee, Martin played college football under head coach Phillip Fulmer from 1996 to 1999. Martin was a backup to Peyton Manning during his freshman and sophomore years at the University of Tennessee. During his junior season, Martin led the 1998 Tennessee Volunteers football team to a 13–0 record and a Fiesta Bowl victory over Florida State, winning the school its first NCAA Division I-A national football championship since 1951. He was teammates with running back Jamal Lewis in his early years at Tennessee and wide receiver Peerless Price, who each went on to play in the NFL. In the 1998 season, Martin broke the NCAA record for consecutive completions. Against South Carolina, Martin completed his first 23 passes. Combined with a completion on his last pass the previous week against Alabama, Martin's string of 24 consecutive completions and 95.8% completion percentage set new records. Martin broke the Southeastern Conference record of Ole Miss' Kent Austin, which was 20 consecutive. He broke the NCAA record for completions over multiple games with 23 consecutive over two games, which was shared by Southern Cal's Rob Johnson and Maryland's Scott Milanovich. In addition, he broke the one-game record of 22 straight completions set by Iowa's Chuck Long in 1984. Lastly, his 95.8% completion percentage broke the previous best single-game completion percentage of 92.6% set by UCLA's Rick Neuheisel in 1983. In 1999, Martin led the Vols to their second consecutive BCS bowl, a 31–21 loss to #3 Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl. During Martin's two years as a starter at Tennessee, the Vols were 11-1 over six major conference foes,.
Collegiate statistics
Year
School
Conf
Pos
G
Cmp
Att
Pct
Yds
Y/A
AY/A
TD
Int
Rate
1996
Tennessee
SEC
QB
11
2
4
50.0
24
6.0
6.0
0
0
100.4
1997
Tennessee
SEC
QB
4
6
12
50.0
87
7.3
5.2
1
1
121.7
1998
Tennessee
SEC
QB
12
153
267
57.3
2,164
8.1
8.5
19
6
144.4
1999
Tennessee
SEC
QB
11
165
305
54.1
2,317
7.6
7.1
12
9
125.0
Career
Tennessee
326
588
55.4
4,592
7.8
7.7
32
16
133.6
Professional career
Martin was drafted in the fifth round with the 163rd overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2004, Martin retired as a member of the Oakland Raiders after four NFL seasons. Martin spent one season in the NFL Europe league. During the 2002 season, he helped lead the Rhein Fire to a league best 7–3 record. The Fire lost in the World Bowl, falling 20–26 to the Berlin Thunder.
Coaching career
After one year as quarterbacks coach at New Mexico under Mike Locksley, Martin accepted the wide receivers coaching position at the University of Kentucky to join new head coach Joker Phillips. In February 2012, Martin was announced as the new wide receivers coach for the University of Southern California under head coach Lane Kiffin. He had been linked with jobs at both Alabama and Oregon previously. News of his hiring at USC was broken by a tweet by quarterback Matt Barkley. Martin replaced Ted Gilmore who left to take a job at the Oakland Raiders. On December 18, 2015, Martin was promoted to offensive coordinator for the Trojans under head coach Clay Helton. On December 27, 2018, after a 5-7 season, Martin became a casualty of a staff shakeup and was fired from the position. It was revealed on January 15, 2019 that Martin will be joining Jeremy Pruitt's staff at Tennessee as wide receivers coach.
Personal life
Martin was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. He is married to the former Toya Rodriguez, a recording artist known professionally as Toya. His oldest child, Amari Rodgers, plays college football at Clemson University. Martin owns Playmakers Sports, a company specializing in sports event planning, quarterback training, and skills development and is a college football expert on Comcast Sports Southeast program Talkin' Football. He is a quarterback coach for the Nike Elite 11 Quarterback Camps, Nike Football Training Camps, and has trained many high school and Division 1 quarterbacks. In 2008, Martin created the "Dual Threat" Quarterback Camp and Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.
