To become Stanford’s single-season tackling leader, Blake Martinez needs to make 76 tackles at the Pac-12 Championship game and in a subsequent bowl game.
That’s because the Stanford sports information crew credited Cardinal linebacker Gordy Ceresino with 196 tackles in 1977, a time when tackling statistics were loosely lumped into three groups: (1) it’s a tackle if you’re the last man up from a pile; (2) or if you jump on the pile; (3) or if the knees on your uniform pants get a grass stain during warmups.
Martinez has made a Pac-12-leading 121 tackles this season and will be rewarded Tuesday when he will be chosen to the All-Pac-12 first team. How sure are we? As sure as Arizona’s Scooby Wright was the league’s best linebacker a year ago.
The only mystery is whether the league’s coaches choose Martinez or Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
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No one’s going to give an award for the City With The Most Tackles Per Capita, but Tucson would be 2015’s walk-away winner. Martinez, who played high school football at Mountain View, Santa Rita and Canyon del Oro, combines his 121 tackles with Army/Sabino linebacker Jeremy Timpf’s 107, Navy/ Cienega linebacker Daniel Gonzales’ 55 and Arizona/Ironwood Ridge linebacker Jake Matthews’ 47 to push the total to 330.
Linebackers ‘R’ Us, indeed.
Martinez was a finalist for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time last week; his 12-tackle outing against Notre Dame was defined by his stop of 6-foot-4-inch, 230-pound Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer on a third-and-goal play in the final minute; Stanford was clinging to a 35-29 lead, and ultimately won 38-36.
In the Cardinal locker room, Martinez is often called “Machine-ez,” for his systematic and thorough way of prowling the center of the field. He has made 223 tackles since becoming a full-time starter a year ago; on Saturday, as a team captain, he had an unforgettable moment when he pulled on a T-shirt that read “My Last Walk 11-28-15” and led his Stanford teammates on a ceremonial journey from their football facility to Stanford Stadium.
Martinez is 41-12 at Stanford, and has played in two Rose Bowls. He can play in a third Rose Bowl if his club beats USC in Saturday’s Pac-12 title game.
How’s that for a college football career?
After Martinez plays in the Senior Bowl next month, his place in Pac-12 history can be debated.
He will become the 11th Tucsonan – a full football team — to make the All-Pac-12 first team. It is an impressive group: Amphi’s Riki Gray, Mario Bates and Jon Volpe; Cholla’s Vance Johnson; Sabino’s Jeff Kiewel, Brooks Reed and Mike Saffer; Sunnyside’s David Adams; Sahuaro’s Steve McLaughlin; Tucson’s Sean Harris.
All went to NFL training camps, which suggests that Martinez will get a crack at pro football in 2016. He is not unlike Scooby Wright: tough between the tackles, assignment-savvy and a potential special teams contributor.
Martinez’s remaining legacy will be as one of the Pac-12’s single-season tackles leaders.
Five Arizona linebackers have led the league in tackles since totals were monitored in the early ’80s: Ricky Hunley, LaMonte Hunley, Byron Evans, Marcus Bell and Spencer Larsen. All were drafted and played in the NFL.
The one thing that has changed is how tackling statistics are kept. Evans was credited with a colossal 196 tackles in 1986. Ricky Hunley had 176 in 1983 and LaMonte Hunley had 168 in 1984.
That’s a substantial increase (in 11-game seasons) over the 121 Martinez has through 12 games. Were the linebackers better then? Or has the game changed?
In the Larry Smith days at Arizona, UA coaches examined game films on Sundays and would count, play by play, each tackle and assisted tackle. They would then inform the sports information department, who would register the coaches’ totals.
After 1987, there was no more “adding on” by coaches, even if legitimate. Now tackling totals go strictly by press box figures. At Arizona, as at Stanford and through the Pac-12, press box stat crews assign two people with binoculars and another to monitor tackles. It’s sometimes inexact, but not even the NFL has a better system.
Before spread offenses, linebackers like Byron Evans played virtually every down. The game lent itself to linebacker’s tackles. Now, in an era of specialization, even all-star players like Martinez and Scooby Wright are periodically replaced trying to match speed with speed.
Now, with more uniform record keeping, no Pac-12 player has averaged more than 12 tackles per game in the last 25 seasons. Martinez is the only player this season to average more than 9.1.
He stands alone. If he’s not the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Year, it’ll be a shame.
