LINCOLN, NE - OCTOBER 20: Quarterback Adrian Martinez #2 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and wide receiver JD Spielman #10 acknowledge the fans after the win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)Following the 2021 season, longtime Nebraska starting quarterback Adrian Martinez announced his decision to leave the program.
Just a few weeks later, Martinez announced he transferred to Kansas State. With his Huskers career officially in the rearview, Martinez revealed one frustration he had with the program.
During a recent episode of the Athletes Unfiltered podcast, Martinez said he wanted to keep his jaw injury under wraps. Instead, head coach Scott Frost admitted to the media the starting quarterback was dealing with an injury.
Here’s what Martinez said, via Saturday Tradition:
“I was willing to do it for the team and for what we were trying to accomplish,” Martinez said. “I felt like it was a necessary sacrifice. And that meant after games taking the bands out and trying to stay as disciplined with it as possible and keeping it as low-key as possible. Not very many people could know about it.”
Martinez revealed his reaction to learning the news was out there.
“One of our media guys came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, Coach Frost just addressed your broken jaw and it’s out officially now. And I was a little shocked. Obviously, we had just lost the game and that wasn’t something I was necessarily prepared to talk about, and had any knowledge was going to be revealed. So it was definitely a surprise to me, but I found out right then, and then seconds later I was on the podium.
“My grandparents didn’t even know. My grandma’s texting me like, ‘Hey, you have a broken jaw.’ Like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Sorry you had to find out over a (expletive) broadcast on FOX, or a press conference postgame.”
Obviously not everything went the way Martinez wanted it.
