There’s always something enticing about the unknown. That’s why everyone falls in love with the backup quarterback. For some reason, when you haven’t seen much of a player, all you tend to see is what could go right for them. And when you’ve seen a lot of a player, there’s a much greater tendency to only see what’s going wrong.
In the case of Penn State’s fanbase, it’s not a backup quarterback, but a backup running back: 2024 in-state four-star Quinton Martin Jr.
The Belle Vernon Area product ran for 103 yards on his only 20 carries of the season in the Pinstripe Bowl win over Clemson last December and stayed behind as Penn State transitioned to Matt Campbell.
Not only did he stay as Campbell brought his leading rusher from Iowa State, Carson Hansen, and added James Peoples from Ohio State in the transfer portal; Martin added weight in the offseason to better fit offensive coordinator Taylor Mouer’s between-the-tackles run game.
Quinton Martin didn’t play a single offensive snap vs. USC
That transformation hasn’t led to involvement in a struggling Penn State run game. Martin has just 29 carries on the season for 158 yards and a touchdown, with 61 of those yards coming on one play against Buffalo, and he didn’t play a single snap in the team’s 31-23 Week 6 loss to USC as the run game sputtered to 2.2 yards per attempt behind Hansen’s 28 yards on 14 carries.
As they did when Martin didn’t play a single snap in Week 2 against Temple, the steady murmurs for Martin to have a bigger role in the backfield roared back to full throat from parts of the fanbase, along with accusations of deference and even favoritism from Campbell’s staff toward one of their many struggling former Cyclones.
Now, to simply say that because Hansen is playing over Martin, therefore he is a better player, is a classic example of the logical coaching fallacy. Coaches make decisions for numerous reasons, and at times make decisions that aren’t in their or their team’s best interest.
But still searching for their first Big Ten win, Campbell and Mouser have to be desperate to solve their run game, so it’s hard to believe favoritism would get in the way. Frankly, the evidence that Martin just isn’t a particularly good player is mounting to the point that you have to ask: What if his lack of involvement is all you really need to know?
Matt Campbell isn’t the only coach who iced out Quinton Martin
Martin has now spent 2.5 seasons in Happy Valley under three different head coaches: James Franklin, Terry Smith, and Campbell. Against Big Ten opponents, he has 12 carries for 21 yards. He did nothing with his opportunities against Wisconsin, rushing for 14 yards on 6 attempts, and against Northwestern, producing six yards on three tries.
Even back to last season, and the most impressive performance of his career against Clemson, he came into that game behind Corey Smith, who is now a backup at Toledo, on the depth chart.
Maybe Martin is just a gamer who doesn’t show his ability in practice well. But even in the games he’s played against Power Conference competition, he’s struggled more often than not.
There aren’t many running backs who are going to succeed behind Penn State’s offensive line. Though Hansen hasn’t helped make that line better, either. He doesn’t have any patience as a runner and simply puts his head down and stumbles forward for three yards with almost no contact balance. He’s like me playing Madden, constantly holding down the sprint trigger on run plays rather than having any semblance of tempo, vision, or patience.
So sure, it’s probably worth Penn State giving Martin the lion’s share of the carries against Michigan while keeping Peoples in his third-down-back role. But if that doesn’t happen, it’s far more likely because Martin has his own glaring inconsistencies in practice and games, and Hansen’s are at least more familiar to this staff than a situation where Campbell and Mouser are willingly keeping a Ferrari in the garage because they love their 2009 Chevy Colorado so much.
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