Senior Film Review of UCF Cornerback Commitment Nikai Martinez

Despite missing time with an injury, UCF cornerback commitment Nikai Martinez played well this season.

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Nov 18, 2021 4:39 PM EST

ORLANDO - Nikai Martinez already established himself as one of the state of Florida’s top recruits as a mere freshman, when then Auburn Head Coach Gus Malzahn offered him a scholarship.

Since Coach Malzahn came over to UCF, Martinez continued to be a priority for Coach Malzahn and his coaching staff. Here’s a look at what the now UCF commitment has accomplished through his senior season.

Nikai Martinez

Vitals: 5’11”, 175 pounds

Position: Cornerback

High School: Apopka (Fla.) High School

Recruitment: Offered by numerous programs including but not limited to UCF, South Carolina, Florida, Auburn, Notre Dame, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Florida State, Cincinnati, Penn State, Indiana and Georgia.

Athleticism

Martinez displayed excellent lateral quickness, good power for his size, a skillful change of direction acumen, and the ability to run well in the open field. This athlete moved and changed direction in a manner most simply cannot.

Best Attributes

Among many areas that Martinez provided excellent performance, his back pedal continued to impress even after he missed time this season. He provided the ability to plant his foot and move ahead without using a second gather step before exploding forward. Many cornerbacks cannot do this.

He’s also a physical cornerback. A play that he excels at blowing up would be the wide receiver screen. Martinez not only diagnosed many of these plays quickly, but overwhelmed the blocker and brought down the ball carrier without assistance multiple times this season.

Those same physical traits helped him with bringing down running backs and being physical with wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, plus down the field. He’s also a smart player.

Martinez always provided a penchant for reading the quarterback and attacking the ball in the air. That’s not changed this season. Martinez was often ready to make contact with a wide receiver during a screen or any other variety of passes as soon as the football arrived at the wide receiver’s finger tips.

With his all-around skills, Martinez could be a valuable member of the UCF secondary rather quickly.

College Position(s)

The term cornerback became quite complex over the past decade. Boundary cornerback, field cornerback, nickel cornerback, and even the hybrid linebacker position all kind of blend together, depending on the defensive coaching staff and play call.

Martinez already displayed the toughness and athleticism to play boundary or nickel, and he’s athletic enough to play to the wide side of the field without safety help backing him up.

So, where will he play? That simply depends on the particular play in question. He’s almost assuredly going to move around because he’s so versatile. Wherever the UCF defensive staff can get him on the field fastest is where he will likely start out as a freshman in 2022.

After missing some time with a MCL injury, teams still rarely challenged Martinez. With that being stated, there’s still room for him to improve after he enrolls at UCF prior to the 2022 season beginning.

Continuing to work on block destruction during screen plays will need to continue to be improved upon, as will understanding the nuances of hand placement and bump and run coverage against a wide receiver as talented as he’s already shown to be while playing cornerback.

Overall, Martinez just needed to get back on the gridiron after his injury so that he could continue to sharpen his skills, and he’s looked really good since being inserted into the lineup once again.

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