BeaversEdge Top 25 For 2022: No. 21 Damien Martinez
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In the weeks leading up to the start of fall camp, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the Top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2022 roster.
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MORE: Updated Scholarship Chart | Edge Top 25: No. 22 James Rawls | Pac-12 Statement on Media Rights | Tastean Reddicks Talks OSU Commitment
Damien Martinez
Bio
No. 6
6-foot, 228-pounds
Running Back
Freshman
Lewisville HS
Lewisville, Texas
2021 stats: 1,712 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns (Lewisville High School)
2021 Recap
With Lewisville High School (TX) in 2021, Martinez was named District 6-6A MVP in Texas.
He finished the year with 1,712 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns, averaging 8.27 yards per attempt. During his junior season, he tallied 2,010 rushing yards and 31 touchdowns.
Martinez elected to enroll with the Beavers early, and was in Corvallis and practicing with the team in spring of 2022...
2022 Outlook
After enrolling early and arriving in Corvallis in January for winter workouts ahead of spring football, Martinez burst onto the scene during spring workouts.
Deshaun Fenwick likely has the inside track to being the lead-back based on showcasing his talents as BJ Baylor's backup last season, but Martinez is certainly a dark horse to steal the show and perhaps be OSU's leading back to kick off the year.
With Fenwick having a limited workload during spring, Martinez got a lot of burn with the first and second units during spring practices and really was able to build up some expectations.
Head coach Jonathan Smith, offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, and running backs coach AJ Steward were extremely complimentary on how quickly Martinez picked up the offense.
There have definitely been some Jermar Jefferson vibes with Martinez, and as we all recall, Jefferson seized the starting job in the fall of 2018 as a true freshman.
Whether or not Martinez is able to climb atop the depth chart ahead of the season remains to be seen, but there's no question he was one of the gems of the 2022 recruiting class and we're already seeing that play out on the field...
I look for Martinez to have a very effective true-freshman campaign...
Here's what we saw from Martinez in OSU's first scrimmage of spring
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