ACC Football

With Hurricane Dorian on track to hit Florida in the next few days, Saturday's Boise State-Florida State game has been moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. 

Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday the hurricane's proximity to Jacksonville necessitated the change in location, per 247Sports' Brendan Sonnone:

“Well given Jacksonville's location, given the uncertainty of the storm, they've looked for ways to figure out how they can accommodate that. I think they're going to go forward with the game, but they're not going to do it in Jacksonville. They're going to do the game in Tallahassee. I think they're going to have more details for that for anybody who's interested going forward."

An official location for the game is yet to be announced, but Sonnone did note as of Thursday morning it appeared Doak Campbell Stadium was being prepared for an event. 

Per Jason Hanna, Madeline Holcombe and Paul P. Murphy of CNN.com, Hurricane Dorian is expected to reach the Atlantic coast of Florida on Monday and is forecast to be a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 130 mph. 

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers added affected areas in the United States could start to feel tropical-storm force winds as early as Saturday evening.

Boise State and Florida State were originally scheduled to play at Jacksonville's TIAA Bank Field at 7 p.m. ET Saturday.

The NCAA denied Virginia Tech offensive lineman Brock Hoffman's appeal to immediately play for the Hokies after transferring from Coastal Carolina.

Hoffman, who tweeted the news, sought a medical hardship waiver to be closer his mother Stephanie. She had surgery to remove a non-cancerous brain tumor in 2017 and still has health issues.

The NCAA rejected the waiver in April before an appeal fell through in August, and the lineman provided his thoughts on the decision to make him wait until 2020.

"First off I would like to thank the entire country for the overwhelming support on my case! We did what we could, but I was informed today that my appeal has been denied and that I will have to sit out the 2019 season. I will redshirt this season and have two years left to play at VT.

"I know it will be a long journey until the 2020 season, but I'm willing to take it to achieve greatness. The goal now is continue developing my body, perfecting my craft, and being a leader for my teammates. I will not let this bring me down!"

Hoffman's tweet notably included a picture of former Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth, who wore a "National Communists Against Athletes" shirt as a protest against the organization suspending him for the 1987 Orange Bowl for steroid usage.

Hoffman tweeted in April that the NCAA denied his waiver then because (a) Virginia Tech is outside a 100-mile radius from his home in Statesville, North Carolina, and (b) that the NCAA "stated that [his] mothers condition has gotten better since being at Coastal Carolina University."

Per Mike Niziolek of the Roanoke Times, "the NCAA added an 100-mile distance rule when it made changes to the medical hardship waiver process in 2012."

Hoffman also noted that his mother is suffering from "facial paralysis, hear loss and eye sight issues and will never 100% be the same."

Niziolek received the NCAA's reported perspective from a "person familiar with the NCAA process."

"The basis for the decision by the seven-person appeal's committee came down to the timing of Hoffman's transfer," Niziolek wrote. "Tech's compliance department wasn't informed of the specific voting tally."

He also provided more details.

"One of the requirements the NCAA added over the summer to the guidelines that impacted Hoffman stated student-athletes transferring because of an illness in the family 'must occur within or immediately after the academic year.'

"The appeals committee used those guidelines in debating the merits of Hoffman's appeal since it wasn't officially submitted until July."

Numerous people sided with Hoffman after news of his failed appeal broke, including ESPN college football color commentator Todd Blackledge, Chris Hummer of 247Sports and Mike Barber of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

WCNC Sports Director Nick Carboni also wondered why Hoffman's appeal to play immediately was denied while some quarterbacks (the two biggest names being Ohio State's Justin Fields and Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts) are allowed to suit up right away:

Hoffman will be eligible to play beginning Sept. 5, 2020, when the Hokies host Liberty.

Florida State has named redshirt sophomore James Blackman as the team's starting quarterback for the first game against Boise State on Saturday. 

Wisconsin transfer Alex Hornibrook and Louisville transfer Jordan Travis were both involved in the quarterback competition, but head coach Willie Taggart went with the player who has been with the program and started 13 games over the past two seasons.

Despite his familiarity with the program, Blackman and Hornibrook saw "close to a 50-50 split in reps with the first-team offense through the final days of camp," according to Brendan Sonnone of 247Sports.

Hornibrook also has plenty of experience at this level with 5,438 passing yards and 47 touchdowns in 35 games for the Badgers. 

Blackman, who has 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his career, was forced to earn the starting spot over tough competition but was up to the challenge during fall practices. 

"When you put everything together, he's a dang good quarterback." offensive coordinator Kendal Briles said of Blackman.

"He's an alpha dog," receiver Keyshawn Helton added. "He's a leader."

Florida State is trying to bounce back from a disappointing 5-7 season in Taggart's first year with the team. It was the school's first campaign with a sub-.500 record since 1976. The February dismissal of former starting quarterback Deondre Francois created even more uncertainty within the program. 

The squad will hope players like Blackman, running back Cam Akers and wide receiver Tamorrion Terry will help rejuvenate the offense and lead to more success in 2019.

The Miami Hurricanes bedazzled their regular-season opener against the No. 8 Florida Gators by introducing the third iteration of their Turnover Chain on Saturday at Camping World Stadium. 

Hurricanes who force turnovers this season will don the city of Miami around their necks, as Miami-Dade County's 305 area code is encrusted in diamonds: 

Miami defenders couldn't wait to get their hands on the new bling. Defensive end Scott Patchan recovered a fumble in the second quarter to be the first to earn the Turnover Chain this season, and linebacker Shaquille Quarterman recovered another fumble on the Gators' next drive:

AJ Machado, a local jeweler who has made the three Turnover Chains, told David Furones of the Sun-Sentinel that rookie head coach Manny Diaz, a Miami native, wanted the area code featured on this year's chain. 

The tradition began in 2017. Two weeks before the start of the season, Hurricanes cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph asked Machado to make a chain for his players to wear after they force turnovers, the Sun-Sentinel reported at the time. 

The first player to ever wear the Turnover Chain was Malek Young, who secured an interception in the 2017 season opener against Bethune-Cookman.     

And now, the Turnover Chain will be complemented by the Touchdown Rings. The 'Canes revealed the new bling following Jarren Williams' 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brevin Jordan to give the team a 13-7 lead at halftime: 

It's only right that the offense get in on the flex.  

The Miami Hurricanes' 2018-19 season begins Saturday night against Florida, and Tate Martell might find himself in a different role than what he envisioned when transferring to The U from Ohio State in January.

The former 4-star quarterback was warming up at receiver, wearing gloves and running routes, according to 247Sports' Andrew Ivins. Redshirt freshman quarterback Jarren Williams won the starting job over Martell and N'Kosi Perry.

Per Ivins, Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz assured that Martell is open to the idea of playing receiver instead of quarterback. "Just like anybody else we have," Diaz said Wednesday. "Anybody will help by doing anything that's available."

Martell spent his first two collegiate seasons behind Dwayne Haskins, who departed the Buckeyes to enter the 2019 NFL draft where he was selected 15th overall by Washington. However, Martell was again pushed aside when Justin Fields transferred to Ohio State from Georgia.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald had reported on Aug. 16 that Martell "was given the opportunity to play wide receiver.

"Even if Martell moves to receiver, it's questionable whether he would get meaningful playing time because wide receiver might be UM's deepest position, along with defensive end," Jackson wrote.

While perhaps frustrating for Martell, 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons disclosed on The College Football Daily podcast (h/t Ivins) that Martell could excel at receiver:

"It's just one of the many directions someone can go when they're an undersized quarterback who is also really athletic. [National recruiting analyst Greg Biggins] has seen Tate more than anybody. He was talking about how he's seen Tate running around catching passes at quarterback camps. He's got natural pass-catching ability. The ball skills are there. He is very athletic. He is sudden and has some twitch and body movement to his game. That short-area quickness was one of the best qualities he had.

"As a slot guy that could create space and get separation as a route runner, there's a lot of those guys with success in all levels of football right now. I'm not saying that's where he needs to go, but in the spectrum of options, you have to include that as one of them."

While backing up Haskins, Martell showed his ability as a dual-threat by recording 128 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to go along with 269 passing yards and a passing touchdown last season. In Miami, the definition of what it means for him to be a dual-threat may have just shifted.

Prominent college football quarterbacks to successfully switch to wide receiver include Julian Edelman, Terrelle Pryor and Braxton Miller.

The 'Canes and the No. 8 Gators kick off at 7 p.m. ET from Orlando's Camping World Stadium.

In his left hand, Manny Diaz clutches a comically massive Cuban-link chain necklace. In his right, he clings to another comically massive Cuban-link chain necklace. A local newspaper photographer's shutter snaps, again and again and again, until a relieved Diaz lays all that gold—roughly 13 pounds of gaudy South Florida bling, with green and gold sapphire pendants at the ends of each—on a table.

There's something about the pose that almost veers into self-parody, and Diaz, the 45-year-old first-year head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, is utterly aware of that. As he hurries down a hallway inside Miami's expanding football complex—past several lighted photos of a who's who of Hurricane alumni, from Ed Reed to Michael Irvin to Warren Sapp—he admits it still feels weird to be posing with these flamboyant creations of his, known as the Turnover Chains. It's not exactly his style, but it's part of a narrative, and there may be no coach who's more understanding of the power of a good story than Diaz.

Before the 2017 season, when he was the defensive coordinator at Miami under former coach Mark Richt, Diaz devised the idea for a Turnover Chain. He had one created with the assistance of a local jeweler—and the advising of former Miami nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who just happened to be in the store when the call came in from one of Diaz's defensive assistants. Maybe a rope-chain, the assistant said.

"Naw, man," Wilfork said. "We gotta do the Cuban link."

Wilfork understood the chain had to be over the top, a reflection of South Florida's Tony Montana-esque penchant for extravagance. It was meant to serve as a public reward for players who forced a fumble or interception on defense, but it was also an homage to the swaggering ethos of both this football program and this city. After it became the biggest off-field hit in college football in 2017, a new one was designed for the 2018 season.

Diaz insists he never imagined the Turnover Chain would immediately become such a glaring symbol, the most recognizable marketing tool for a program that is a generation removed from its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. But at the same time, he understands the power of symbols, particularly in a day-glo city such as Miami, which has long embraced sweeping gestures and big personalities. Diaz's cheeky Twitter account reflects that, as did his grand entrance to Miami's spring tour with boosters on a $7 million yacht. "It gives you an avenue," Diaz says of social media, "where you can create and control narratives."

In terms of narratives, it's possible that no coach in Miami history has ever been tied in so deeply to the melting-pot image of this city as Diaz is. Not only did he grow up there as the grandson of a Cuban immigrant, but his father, Manny Diaz Sr., was an attorney who served as the mayor of Miami from 2001 until 2009.

Just as it is in politics, Manny Diaz Jr. knows that imagery is part of the process of coaching here. It's part of what he recently called "creating value" around the program. People expect a certain attitude to emanate from the Miami sideline, the way it did when the Hurricanes were regularly winning national championships and displaying the kind of swagger that prefigured the social media era. And the question surrounding the program since its last national championship in 2001 has been the same pretty much every year: When will Miami get that level of swagger back?

The answer to that question, for Diaz, begins by recapturing the pulse of the city itself.

"Miami is just a very unique place," Diaz says. "It's a place where people want to come visit so they can dance in the clubs and go to the beaches and listen to the music. And there's a specific way to win here that fits in well with the identity of this community. The way that those Miami teams played fit in exactly with the culture of this town."

It hasn't been easy to find a coach who could re-create that success at Miami. Three head coaches have passed through the university's palm-tree-lined Coral Gables campus since Larry Coker, the last one to win a national title, was fired in 2006. Two of them—Richt and Randy Shannon—were former Miami players who had moderate success (including an Orange Bowl bid for Richt in 2017) but never fully recaptured the bombast of the glory days. The other, Al Golden, was a Penn State graduate who tried to turn Miami into something more vanilla and wound up being disliked by his own alumni base.

Diaz is neither of those things. He didn't play college football at Miami; in fact, he didn't play college football at all. After growing up reading the local sports pages in Miami, he studied journalism at Florida State and got a job as a production assistant at ESPN for several years before taking an entry-level job under FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews. His insight and intelligence allowed him to slowly work his way up the ladder, moving from NC State to Middle Tennessee State to Mississippi State.

Eventually, after a high-profile failure as defensive coordinator at Texas (he was fired following a disastrous game against BYU in 2013) and a successful stint as the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, Diaz wound up back in his hometown. And after briefly taking the job as Temple's head coach following last season, he returned to Miami 18 days later, when Richt suddenly announced his retirement.

Diaz's unconventional path makes him the perfect coach for a program that doesn't fit into any of college football's typical boxes. This is a private university in a major city, two things that are each rare in the upper echelons of the sport. In fact, Miami's program was essentially an afterthought until the 1980s, when coach Howard Schnellenberger elbowed his way into the sport's elite by recruiting local talent, much of it from the city's hardscrabble neighborhoods. It's almost as if the Hurricanes became an extension of Miami's ego as it blossomed into a major American city. And Diaz saw it all unfold firsthand, which is why he's so cognizant of the program's image.

"He brings an awareness of this city that's like no other person I've been around," says Miami cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph, a South Florida native who played on Miami's last national championship team. "He knows what the city is going to react to and what they respect the most. Early on, when he became the head coach, people thought somebody else was running his Twitter. But this man is smart, and he's very witty. Everything he does is calculated, from pulling up on a yacht to the Turnover Chain to social media."

The tagline—the branding, if you want to call it that—Diaz has used with the local media is that he's going to create a "New Miami." That essentially means transitioning the "Old Miami" into the social media era. The players Miami is recruiting weren't even born the last time the Hurricanes won a national title—several current players told me they learned about the past by watching either the ESPN 30 for 30 on those teams or from clips on YouTube. Some of them, such as tight end Michael Irvin II—son of the Hall of Fame receiver—and cornerback Al Blades Jr., whose father and two uncles played for the Hurricanes, have been hearing the stories about those glory years for nearly their whole lives.

"Those Miami teams were relentless," Blades says. "And the thing is, a lot of the people that know those Miami teams don't even know who the coaches were. It was up to the players to run the team and become a championship team."

This is the backbone Diaz is hoping to establish to justify all the boisterousness. Over the years, he and others within the program like to point out, Miami won national championships under four different coaches—Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson and Coker. To Diaz, that symbolizes what's long empowered this program to be as in-your-face as it's been: This was arguably the first college football team in the country that empowered its players to take command of the program—and yes, sometimes, that may have led to recruiting violations and excessiveness on the field, but so be it.

That's why so many high-profile alumni tend to come back and speak about the grueling workouts that drove them to win national championships in the first place. Even the Hurricanes locker room was paid for—and is named after—perhaps the most famous Miami alum of all: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Diaz has welcomed those alums, as well as the former coaches, back into the fold.

As a reward for players who achieve on and off the field, he sometimes allows them to wear tinted visors on their helmets during practice, the way late Miami safety Sean Taylor did. Former players regularly show up in the weight room and speak to the team; one current player recalled a tearful speech in the weight room from former linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who recounted how much Miami's competitive mentality shaped him as a person.

Diaz recognizes that, in order for the Hurricanes to truly recapture that swagger, the first thing they need to do is reinforce the player-driven work ethic that made the Hurricanes so utterly confident in the first place. To do that, of course, you need talent and depth. That's the primary reason Diaz says he relied so heavily on the newfangled contraption known as the transfer portal this year—among the players he lured in was Ohio State transfer Tate Martell, who recently lost out on the starting quarterback job to redshirt freshman Jarren Williams (Martell is reportedly working out as a wide receiver).

And it isn't just Martell. Eight of Miami's scholarship players are transfers, including former UCLA defender Jaelan Phillips, the top prospect in the country in 2017, as well as ex-USC safety Bubba Bolden and former Buffalo receiver K.J. Osborn, who served as one of the faces of the program at the ACC's media days this summer. Six of the top 22 players on 247Sports' transfer-portal rankings wound up at Miami, which allowed Diaz to make up for his late start on the job, the young roster he inherited and a recruiting class that ranked only 27th nationally.

That the transfer portal fits Miami's aggressive reputation, Diaz insists, was more of a coincidence than a strategy. But the idea of stockpiling the right kind of talent wherever you can find it fits into his larger ideal.

"When you really broaden things out to the entire program, it's not about the idea of 'Why can't we bring that swagger back?'" Diaz says. "It's like, 'What is the standard that was set here in the first place?' And the way to do that is often the work that's put in during the offseason and the nature of our guys competing in practice. It's that idea of knowing that if you went out for a day, someone might take your job. And you might never get it back."

That ability to understand both the big-picture narrative of Miami's image—"the 30,000-foot view," as co-defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda puts it—and the everyday narrative about what drives his players is what Diaz's longtime assistants say sets him apart. At times, they say, Diaz can almost seem aloof, but they insist that's usually because he's lost in thought about something. He's the opposite of brash; he thinks everything through, from the Power Point parables he shares with his team to the practice clips he shares with the fanbase.

Those assistants also say it bothered Diaz tremendously to have backed out on the Temple job the way he did. Banda and his co-defensive coordinator, Blake Baker, have worked with Diaz dating back to his time at Texas, and both insist he's not the kind of coach who chases his ego from one job to the next. When Richt retired less than three weeks after Diaz took the Temple job, the latter found himself in an impossible position. Once Miami athletic director Blake James contacted Diaz, how could he turn down the one job he'd envisioned holding since he got into coaching?

"I know how hard it was for him, because I know how much he values people," Banda says. "There's a lot of people in this profession that aren't like that."

In order to take his dream job, Diaz was willing to take the hit to his reputation. And now that he's back, he plans to hold on to the job for as long as he can. That won't be easy. There is an unmistakable restlessness here: Despite being a former player and a Miami native himself, Randy Shannon was fired after three consecutive bowl appearances. Diaz has to quickly win football games while also portraying the right image. He has to find a way to marry the idea of the "New Miami" with the idea of the "Old Miami." That means connecting to the past while also allowing his players to find their own way.

"A lot of kids for years have talked about swag, and I always tell the team that we started the swag," says Rumph, the former cornerback-turned-coach. "They can't take that as their own. They have to create their own identity. It has to be unique."

What that looks like—and whether it ever happens—is yet to be seen, but there's little doubt Diaz has a carefully crafted vision for leading his team there. In February, a story spread online that Diaz had pulled an "Old Miami" move at a high school coaching clinic, distracting coaches from attending the Florida State staff's breakout sessions by offering them free beer in a separate room.

In a radio interview a few weeks afterward, Diaz didn't confirm or deny the story. Some of it, he said, was "internet lore," but in a social media-dominated world, maybe the lore is good enough for Manny Diaz and Miami to once again control the narrative of college football.

In the wake of losing out on Miami's starting quarterback job, Tate Martell is looking at possibly playing wide receiver.

Sports writer W.G. Ramirez first reported Martell was considering a position switch. The news was confirmed by Andrew Ivins of 247Sports.

Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz announced Monday redshirt freshman Jarren Williams beat out Martell and N'Kosi Perry for the starting quarterback job.

Per Barry Jackson and Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald, Diaz noted he was "under the impression" Martell intended to stay with the program.

Martell announced in January he was transferring to Miami after spending the past two years at Ohio State. The NCAA approved his waiver, making him eligible to play in 2019.

Quarterback is the only position Martell has played dating back to high school. The 21-year-old was a 4-star recruit and the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the 2017 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.

As Dwayne Haskins' backup at Ohio State last season, Martell went 23-of-28 for 269 yards and one touchdown in six games.

Manny Diaz has established a clear trend heading into his first season as Miami's head coach: He's not wasting time.

After the flashy attempts at shifting the culture and attacking the transfer portal to bolster the roster, the latest occurrence is Diaz announcing Jarren Williams as the Hurricanes' starting quarterback. The redshirt freshman emerged from a competition that included semi-incumbent N'Kosi Perry and Ohio State transfer Tate Martell.

Rather than waiting until the Aug. 24 opener against Florida, Diaz showed his cards now, which allows the Gators to prepare for a specific quarterback instead of wondering about all three.

At least to start the 2019 season, it is Williams' show.

Who is Jarren Williams?

A 4-star talent in the 2018 cycle, he was considered the fifth-best pro-style quarterback and No. 77 overall prospect. Williams flipped from Kentucky to Miami shortly before the early signing period in December 2017 and enrolled early.

During his last two seasons at Central Gwinnett High School, Williams completed 60.7 percent of his 662 passes for 5,633 yards and 54 touchdowns to eight interceptions. He also picked up 950 yards and 19 scores on the ground.

In 2018, he served as the third-stringer behind Malik Rosier and Perry, making one appearance against FCS Savannah State. Williams hit a 17-yard completion and ran for a touchdown.

That was nearly his only playing time at Miami.

In mid-December, reports that Williams would transfer began to surface. He ultimately changed his mind after Mark and Jon Richt convinced him to stay. However, Richt resigned about 10 days later, and Diaz did not retain Jon.

Williams knew he would be competing with Perry, but Martell joined the quarterback battle after deciding to leave Ohio State.

During the spring, the quarterbacks rotated first-string reps while learning a fresh offense. Dan Enos left Alabama to become the coordinator for Diaz and the Canes. No player had emerged as a front-runner until Williams separated himself in fall camp.

"We believe we can win with all three guys," Diaz said in a school release. "However, we feel like Jarren has the greatest upside due to his passing ability, his instincts and his determination."

What's Next?

Though the program has fallen sharply since its dominance in the early 2000s, expectations are high in Coral Gables. Since the ACC Coastal is one of the weakest power-conference divisions, Williams has a chance to keep Miami in the national conversation.

He's bearing a heavy burden of proof, though. Last season, "The U" stumbled to 7-6 solely because of the offense.

Between Rosier and Perry, the Canes trudged to a dismal 51.1 completion percentage with 6.1 yards per attempt. Those marks ranked 118th and 116th nationally, respectively. And compared to ACC competition, only Georgia Tech—which ran a triple-option offense—had a lower completion rate.

Rosier was a deeply flawed quarterback, and Perry's inexperience showed while under the constant threat of being benched. What compounded the problem was a stunningly bland and predictable offense under former coach Mark Richt.

The Canes rarely had pre-snap motion beyond a running back moving slightly after the quarterback clapped. They constantly used slow-developing play-action passes on 3rd-and-long. If a fullback entered in a short-yardage situation, it was almost exclusively a fullback dive. They relied heavily on fades when passing in the red zone.

And the list goes on.

Fortunately for Williams, Enos—who also serves as the QB coach—will be more creative and has a reputation of strong development. Most recently, Enos was the position coach for Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts at Alabama.

While that reputation alone doesn't guarantee Williams be successful, he's in a considerably improved spot compared to 2018. Williams has a promising group of skill-position weapons, too.

DeeJay Dallas offers experience at running back in front of exciting sophomores Cam'Ron Harris and Lorenzo Lingard. Williams' key targets will be the explosive Jeff Thomas, Buffalo transfer K.J. Osborn, speedster Mike Harley and tight end Brevin Jordan. The Canes could see a couple of Will Mallory, Jeremiah Payton, Brian Hightower, Dee Wiggins and Mark Pope emerge as regular contributors, too.

Is this offense built for national contention in 2019? Likely no. But it is unquestionably talented enough to win the Coastal, which the program has only achieved once in 14 years.

Outside of the showdown with Florida, the biggest games for Williams—provided he retains the starting job—will be opposite ACC teams. His league debut will be at North Carolina (Sept. 7), and then a back-to-back against Coastal contenders Virginia (Oct. 5) and Virginia Tech (Oct. 11) looks like a pivotal stretch. Later, the trip to Florida State (Nov. 2) could be a season-defining matchup for the Canes.

Many questions will be asked and answered before those matchups arrive, however. Right now, the only guarantee is Williams has earned the nod to start against Florida.

And the Hurricanes are hoping that Williams, like his coach, won't waste any time making a positive impact.

All recruiting ratings via 247Sports' composite. Stats from NCAA.com, cfbstats.com or B/R research. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.

Tate Martell didn't practice with the Miami Hurricanes on Monday, according to Andrew Ivins of 247Sports.

A representative of the school confirmed to Ivins that Martell wasn't at practice and remains a member of the team.

Many were surprised Monday when the Hurricanes announced redshirt freshman Jarren Williams won the starting quarterback job:

Martell transferred to Miami from Ohio State after the Buckeyes added Justin Fields. He explained to ESPN's Andrea Adelson in May how Fields' arrival sealed his fate with the Buckeyes:

"After being there for two years and not playing, I couldn't risk it anymore. There's a point where you love your teammates, you love everything about the school and the people there, but you have to start thinking about yourself and not doing it because these are my teammates. They all understood, and they weren't upset at all."

Once the NCAA granted Martell immediate eligibility, the general assumption was he'd take over as the starting quarterback. Malik Rosier graduated, while N'Kosi Perry struggled as a redshirt freshman (1,091 yards, 13 touchdowns six interceptions in 11 games).

Now, the Las Vegas native is potentially facing an identical situation to the one he left in Columbus.

Martell was the No. 56 player and No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the 2017 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. While backing up Dwayne Haskins in 2018, he threw for 269 yards and a touchdown while running for 128 yards and two scores.

Although Martell has an experience edge, Williams is basically his equal in terms of recruiting profile. He ranked 77th overall and fifth among pro-style quarterbacks in 2018.

Martell is in a tough spot because he already used his redshirt at Ohio State. Transferring a third time would almost certainly mean losing a year of eligibility. The alternative is staying at Miami, getting his degree and then leaving as a graduate transfer.

For the time being, it would appear Martell is committed to the Hurricanes. The longer he remains Williams' backup, though, the more the speculation about is future is likely to grow.