"Jersey" Joe Martinek (born February 8, 1989) is a former American football fullback. He is the all-time high school leading rusher in New Jersey state history with 7,589 yards and was a running back at Rutgers. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Giants after the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. Joe then played professionally in the

Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL) is the top level American football league in Italy established in 1980. History In the 1970's teams formed and played in Italy. In 1980 the first official American football league in Italy was established and crow ...

for the Parma Panthers.

High school

Martinek was an average athlete at

Hopatcong High School Hopatcong High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school serving students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades from Hopatcong, New Jersey, Ho ...

in Hopatcong, New Jersey, playing American football and track & field but he soon came to be one of the best. As a senior running back at

, Martinek was named the state's 2006 Gatorade player of the year after finishing the season with 2,081 yards rushing and a career total of 7,589 yards for the Chiefs. He became the first player in New Jersey to gain more than 7,000 yards, and at the time of graduation was ranked 38th on the all-time high school football rushing list. Martinek was seventh in the state in scoring as a senior, with 160 points, and had the second-best single-game rushing total in New Jersey as a senior with 396 yards on 31 carries and four touchdowns vs. Jefferson High School. He garnered First Team All-State honors by the Associated Press and the Star-Ledger. He was invited to play in the NY/NJ High School All-Star Classic. Martinek also excelled on the other sides of the ball. On defense at linebacker, he recorded 54 tackles, four sacks, three interceptions and nine pass breakups. On special teams, he was 31-of-34 on field goal attempts (and 6-for-6 on attempts of 50 yards or longer) and punted 16 times with a net average of 46.6 yards. Martinek appeared in the January 11, 2007 edition of ''Sports Illustrated'' in the “Faces in the Crowd” section, highlighting his New Jersey state rushing record and tremendous special teams statistics. Martinek was also a standout track performer who won the state title in the

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

in 2007. Martinek was a four-year starter at Hopatcong under head coach Paul Reduzzi. Coach Reduzzi on Martinek: “Joe is a tremendous individual and tremendous athlete. With the success we had on the field the last four years was a result of Joe helping his teammates and making them better on and off the field.”

Rutgers

While in high school, Martinek received an offer from Rutgers. Martinek was redshirted his

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

season in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. During that first season, he did not see game action but helped prepare the team as a member of the scout team. He competed as both a running back and a safety during practice drills. After his redshirt year, Martinek had a strong freshman season in 2008 with 404 yards rushing and four touchdowns. He averaged 5.3 yards per carry and was also a standout on special teams. He made his collegiate debut in season opener against Fresno State (9/1) and caught one pass for seven yards in the second half against the Bulldogs. He recorded his first career carry in the first quarter at Navy (9/20) and one play later scored a five-yard touchdown on his second career rush. He finished the game with 61 yards rushing on eight attempts, including a 29-yard run in the second quarter. Against UConn, Martinek delivered a big tackle on the one-yard line on a second-half kickoff against the Huskies. Against

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

(11/8), he took the ball from the direct snap and rushed a career-long 45 yards for his second career touchdown. Against

USF USF may refer to: Universities * University of Saint Francis (Indiana), Ft. Wayne, Indiana * University of San Francisco, California * University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida * University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois * University of Siou ...

on 11/15, Martinek posted career-highs in rushes (21), rushing yards (98) and rushing touchdowns (2) at USF. Martinek had 53 yards on nine carries against Army (11/22). He made his first career start in the regular-season finale against Louisville(12/4) and rushed 18 times for 57 yards, including a 22-yarder. He carried nine times for 58 yards, including a 26-yard rush, all in the second half of the PapaJohns.com Bowl against NC State (12/29) in support of Rutgers come-from-behind bowl victory.

New York Giants

Martinek signed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

as an undrafted free agent on April 28, 2012, and waived August 27, 2012 as NFL teams trimmed their rosters to 75. He was re-signed to their Practice Squad on October 10, 2012.

Parma Panthers

In May 2015, Martinek signed and played for the Parma Panthers of the Italian Football League. Martinek finished the season for the Panthers playing in 6 games, rushing for 567 yards on 99 carries and 8 TD's. He also caught 5 passes for 68 yards and 2 TD's. The Panthers finished 10-3 and reaching the championship game before losing to the Seamen Milano. Martinek finished the game with 34 yards rushing on 8 carries and had two receptions for 17 yards and a score.

Beyond football

Martinek is formerly a Recruitment Advisor for Medix in Parsippany, NJ.He Now Works for Miller Launch as a captain in Staten Island New York.

References

External links

JoeMartinek.com website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinek, Joe 1989 births People from Hopatcong, New Jersey Living people Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players Players of American football from New Jersey American expatriate sportspeople in Italy American expatriate players of American football American football fullbacks Italian Football League players