Markelle Martin (born June 20, 1990) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

. He played college football at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and was drafted by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Martin suffered numerous injuries over the course of his career and ended up never taking a snap of NFL football. He currently serves as a coach at Wylie High School.

Early years

Martin attended S. H. Rider High School in

Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accord ...

. He played both safety and wide receiver. As a senior, he had 81

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and five interceptions. He was a first-team 4A all-state selection as a senior after leading Rider to a 12–2 record and was voted as his district's defensive player of the year.

College career

2008

As a freshman in 2008, Martin played in eleven games and had four tackles and broke up four passes. He broke up a pass and blocked a punt against Missouri State.

2009

As a sophomore in 2009 he started 11 games, missing two with an injury. He finished fifth on the team with 45 tackles, and second on the team with 11 pass break-ups. His most productive game of the season came in the Cotton Bowl with nine tackles and a pass break-up in the defense's impressive outing against Ole Miss.

2010

As a junior in 2010, Martin started all 13 games of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

. He had 55 tackles, 10 pass break-ups, three interceptions, returning one for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

. The touchdown was a 62-yard return during the 2010 Alamo Bowl. He also recorded 4 tackles during the game and was named the Defensive Player of the Game. Following the 2010 season, Martin was named the Nate Fleming Award winner. The award is given to Oklahoma State student-athletes who overcome struggles to excel both on the field and in the classroom.

2011

Martin again started all 13 contests of the

, finishing his career by starting in 37 straight contests. For the season, Martin had 74 tackles, 11 pass breakups, 2 forced fumbles and one recovered. He was named as a

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payco ...

semifinalist and earned All-Big 12 first-team honors. He also was selected as a first-team All-American by the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

Professional career

Tennessee Titans

Martin was drafted by the

in the sixth round (190th overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. He signed a four-year deal with the Titans on May 18, 2012. On August 27, 2013, Martin was waived/injured by the Titans. On August 28, 2013, he cleared waivers and was placed on the Titans' injured reserve list.

Toronto Argonauts

Martin was signed by the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

on March 27, 2014. He was released on June 13, 2014.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Markelle 1990 births Living people American football safeties Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Tennessee Titans players Players of American football from Texas People from Wichita Falls, Texas