Adrian Martinez Named to Freshman All-American Team

Two quarterbacks were named to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) Freshman All-American team. One is playing in tonight’s national championship game, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. The other is Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez.

The exciting dual-threat signal caller from California made his mark in his first season as a Cornhusker. He completed just under 65% of his passes (second in school history), throwing for 2,617 yards (eighth in school history) and rushing for over 600 more.

Martinez ranks 12th nationally in total offensive yards per game (295.1), and leads all freshman in that category, while ranking fourth among freshmen in passing yards per game. Martinez averaged 237.9 passing yards per game and 57.2 rushing yards per game in 2018, becoming just the second FBS true freshman since 1990 to average 200 passing yards and 50 rushing yards per game and the first to hit those averages as a Power Five program.

Overall, Martinez was just the sixth freshman quarterback - true or redshirt - to average 200 passing yards and 50 rushing yards per game since 1990, joining Oregon’s Marcus Mariota (2012), Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel (2012) and Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett (2014) as the only freshmen quarterbacks to reach those marks in the last decade. Martinez was also one of just four FBS quarterbacks - regardless of class - who averaged 225 passing yards and 50 rushing yards per game in 2018.

This is the second straight year Nebraska has had an honoree on this list. In 2017, JD Spielman was named a freshman All-American at the receiver position.

Congratulations to Adrian! Go Big Red!

Click here to see the entire list of freshman All-Americans.