A message to people criticizing Tate Martell and the several other CFB players transferring this season

Dear college football fans:

I’ve got a bit of a problem, and I’m hoping you’d be able to help me out. It involves the large increase in the number of players who are deciding to transfer at the end of the season, but it’s not the student-athletes I take issue with.

Those kids can do as they please.

My problem relates to the alarming percentage of fans that feel the need to chime in so negatively on a student-athlete’s decision to pursue other options. To narrow it down even further, there’s a specific group on complainants who are really beginning to bug me.

It’s the “what happened to competition?” crowd that I’m really concerned with. That question — that criticism — has surfaced far too frequently as of late, and it’s really getting irritating.

The most common use of this ridiculous critique has come in light of the Tate Martell situation with Ohio State. After claiming he was staying in Columbus to battle incoming Georgia quarterback Justin Fields for the starting job with the Buckeyes, Martell eventually decided to explore other opportunities. And on Tuesday night, he revealed that he was headed to Miami.

“Martell is afraid of competition.”

“He tucked his tail and turned his back on Ohio State.”

“Things got rough, and now he’s crying foul.”

Those were all statements made about Martell’s decision to transfer on social media. He was a kid who spent the last two seasons with the Buckeyes, hoping to one day be the starter at one of the most prestigious football powerhouses in the country. At the last second, Ryan Day was able to pluck Justin Fields away from Georgia, all but anointing the former 5-star gunslinger as the No. 1 option for 2019.

You can’t fault Day for trying to improve at the quarterback position in an effort to field the best team possible in 2019 (no pun intended). And you can’t blame Martell for feeling betrayed, like all the effort he put in for two years was for nothing.

You know what you can be faulted in this situation, though? Those comments about Martell’s lack of competitive spirit and loyalty. It’s just nonsensical. It’s also hypocritical.

Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Imagine the situation involved your employment, and you might view things a little differently. What if you put in two years of hard work for a company with the assumption that, should you continue to do things the right way, that big promotion is yours to lose. Instead of turning to you when those 24 months pass, the boss decides to swipe an employee more well-suited for that promotion.

All that work with no payoff.

I won’t say everyone, but I’d image there are a lot of individuals who would be hopping on Indeed or LinkedIn, searching for another position. Maybe all that hard work will result in a better title and pay increase at another company, one who’s in desperate need of the skill-set you provide.

Nobody would blame you for packing up your office and leaving for greener pastures. Not everyone has the same sort of loyalty Dwight Schrute shows to Dunder Mifflin, even after being passed up for that assistant regional manager position multiple times.

Why, then, do we put that burden on student-athletes. I understand that sports and work are viewed through separate microscopes with different sets of rules. For some reason, college football players are expected to ignore every bit of adversity and embrace every challenge that comes their way.

Some athletes, some people, are built that way. Others look to take advantage of different opportunities. Both mindsets are acceptable.

We live in a different era of college football now. Transferring is going to become the new normal, especially at the quarterback position. You don’t have to necessarily agree with the way business is conducted, but you should probably get used to it.

You should also respect the decisions these student-athletes make. After all, we also don’t know what the coaches are telling players on these recruiting visits. For all we know, Martell could’ve been promised a starting job at some point down the road, only to have it yanked away later.

It’s unlikely but not impossible, especially in today’s cutthroat world of recruiting.

Right or wrong, transferring is becoming a more prominent aspect of college football. Each offseason will turn into somewhat of a free agency period. There are going to be a lot of high-profile players changing schools. There’s nothing we can do to control it.

What you can control, though, is your response to these decisions. Maybe it’s time to take a step back and think about what you would do in that exact same spot. You might not admit it, but there’s a lot of you who would make a similar decision.

So, can we cut out the nonsense and stop criticizing players for making a decision that’s in their best interest? College football would be a much better place if we did — well, at least the social media aspect.

And who knows, maybe your team will benefit from one of these choices somewhere down the road.

Sincerely, Dustin.