Two-Sport Star QB/OF Kaden Martin Previews College Commitment
Most college prospects make that one big decision, sign with said program and eventually enroll.
Kaden Martin has a much more layered decision ahead. The Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic star not only has nearly 20 football scholarship offers to choose from, but he is also weighing the baseball programs inviting him to play on the diamond at the next level, too. In between, there is the ongoing curiosity surrounding his prospects as a pro left-handed pitcher and/or outfielder.
The front end of a decision for the son of Baltimore Ravens assistant coach Tee Martin will come this week as the junior will make a college decision Wednesday.
"The final four is Arizona State, Miami, Tennessee and Oregon," Martin told SI All-American. "It's just the coaches. I've been around the whole coaching and university thing since I was little so there's nothing I could really be surprised about. It's really about connecting with the coaches, looking at their program and seeing what they can do as far as developing players."
Martin shared thoughts on each finalist with SIAA.
Arizona State: "They're an up-and-coming team. A great team in the Pac-12. They've got my boy Jayden Daniels up there. I just kind of like what they're doing with him. Arizona is just a great place to live and it's a great school. They just had the No. 1 pick (Spencer Torkelson) in the baseball draft, so they're good at sports in both. Coach Herm (Edwards) is doing a great job building that program up, he's a great coach and I love talking to him."
Miami: "Miami has been my dream school since I was young. Just watching the 30for30 about The U and what they play for. With baseball, Coach (Gino) DiMare and Coach (Norberto) Lopez do a great job recruiting me and all that stuff. They just beat No. 1 Florida and they're highly ranked right now. Then Coach (Rhett) Lashlee has done a great job with the offense. They got D'Eriq King, a shorter quarterback like me and they're doing great working with his play-style."
Tennessee: "Everybody figured that I was just going to Tennessee, but that's not the case. Everything is wide open right now. I haven't heard much from Coach (Josh) Heupel but at the same time I have a great relationship with Coach (Tony) Vitello. Coach Josh (Elander), too. They've been there since I got here."
Oregon: "Coach (Jack) Marder, in baseball, does a great job recruiting me. Great hitting coach and has sent a lot of guys to the league. With football they do a great job and they've got (quarterback/outfielder) Robby Ashford already up there doing exactly what I want to do. They have actual proof for what I want to do. Just developing him, and he started his first game and got a hit last night, so they show I can actually do it up there."
Martin hasn't come to an internal decision just yet, he tells SI All-American, and programs are set to make their final pitch less than 48 hours away from the selection going public. Many of the finalists, as well as Georgia Tech, are scheduled to connect with the Martin camp via Zoom and over the phone on Monday evening.
In 2020, the junior led Knoxville Catholic football to a winning record for the second-straight year. In baseball, Martin tests in the 99th percentile in fastball velocity, max barrel speed and impact momentum per Perfect Game.
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