In February of 2010, five-star defensive end Chris Martin signed with Cal on National Signing Day -- after being a Notre Dame non-binding verbal in 2009.
In July of 2010, Martin announced he was leaving Cal for Florida because “I feel like for me to focus and truly reach my potential I need to leave many of the distractions I have here at home in the Bay Area.”
In January of 2011, and after transferring to his happy redshirt place, Martin lost the focus he sought and was hit with a distraction far away from his home in the form of a possession of marijuana charge, which didn’t become public knowledge until late April.
Two months later -- and less than a year after the first time he latched onto it -- Martin has grabbed his football binky and stormed out from under the protective blanky of yet another football program.
OK, maybe not “stormed out”, but Martin has nonetheless left yet another team, with word coming Friday that the defensive end is leaving Florida. According to the statement released by the university, it appears Martin now needs to be back closer to the Bay-area home he left in the first place.
Ya know, the same place that was the anti-Gainesville, the “somewhere else where I don’t have those distractions.”
“Chris and his family have indicated that it might be the best for him to be closer to home,” Gators head coach Will Muschamp said in a statement. “We wish him nothing but the best of luck.”
Martin was rated as the No. 2 defensive end, and the No. 18 player overall, in the country for the 2010 recruiting class.
There’s no word on where Martin may end up next, although a JUCO preschool should probably be in the discussion at this point.