Under the radar no more: Illinois DB Jartavius Martin of Fort Myers a sure 2023 NFL Draft pick
Jartavius "Quan" Martin felt like an overlooked player during his high school years and most of his college football career.
He had great athleticism and made plays but somehow didn’t get the notoriety he felt he deserved.
That's all changed in the past few months. After a stellar season for Illinois and eye-popping measurables at the NFL Draft Combine, the Fort Myers native’s name has been on every draft analyst’s tongue. The only question that remains is how high will he go?
Most prognosticators have the 5-foot-11, 194-pound safety/nickel corner going during Friday’s second or third round.
NFL DRAFT HISTORY Here's a look at every Southwest Florida player ever selected in the NFL Draft
"I feel like I've always been like that under-the-radar guy," said Martin, a Lehigh Senior High graduate who was listed as a 2-star recruit by Rivals and whose only Power 5 offer came from Illinois. "This past year was definitely my best year but just being like under the radar like my whole career, a lot of things always started to happen late for me, even like high school recruiting and in this whole process of just being able to put my best ball out this past year. I feel like really helped me a lot and especially performing high at the combine definitely like boosted my stock or made teams come back and watch the film a little bit more. So it's been good."
Martin's Illini career came to its apex this past season, his fifth in Champaign. He made 64 tackles (51 solo), with three interceptions, and 11 pass breakups while playing 493 snaps in the slot and 177 deep at deep safety, which showed his range. He was named All-Big Ten second team by the media and third team by the coaches.
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Illinois' Jartavius "Quan" Martin jumped 44" at the NFL Combine. How's that rank all-time?
During his first three college seasons, Martin played 1,122 snaps with 103 tackles and 8 pass breakups. He became a starter in 2021 and recorded 56 tackles, one interception, and six breakups playing mostly nickel out of the slot.
It also didn't hurt he was playing alongside projected first-round cornerback Devon Witherspoon and projected second or third-round safety Sydney Brown, giving the Illini one of the best secondaries in college football in 2023.
"It was definitely fun man just been able to play alongside those guys for a number of years and you know we kind of just knew how each other played, what we were thinking a lot of the time so it really just allowed us to play faster," said Martin, who celebrated his 23rd birthday last week. "The energy was great at practice and in games. I always say Witherspoon, he always gives us that spark and it's just fun to be out there on the field with him."
A familiar name to Southwest Florida football fans led the Illini secondary the past two years. Former Immokalee High star Aaron Henry was hired as Illinois' defensive backs coach after the 2020 season. Martin said he and Henry knew each other a little before working together and remembered one correspondence as Henry, then the secondary coach with NC State, sent him a congratulatory text after he verbally committed to Illinois in 2016.
"So to see everything just come full circle man, to see him get a job at Illinois these past two years and this year get promoted to defensive coordinator, that's just amazing to see where we came from and ended up together," Martin said.
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Henry, who was promoted to defensive coordinator in December, believes Martin is built to succeed in the NFL.
"What makes Quan special is his versatility," Henry told Fox Illinois. "I think obviously at the NFL level you can never ever have I have enough DBs, especially ones that can play, that can go from corner to nickel to safety, you know his position flexes. I've never had a player like that. I've never had a player literally go in a game go from corner to nickel to safety.
"And on top of being a tremendous young man. Great, great human. He's been such a treat in a whirlwind to work with. You would all like them to turn out that way. I mean, that dude is, you talk about the standard of your program, that's what you want in your program."
Martin's strong play continued as he was invited to the Senior Bowl and showed he was a quick and fluid player during practices as his draft stock continued to rise. And then came the NFL Combine in late February.
He had scouts rubbing their eyes and social media buzzing as he hit 44 inches on the vertical leap, which is tied for the eighth-best jump in combine history. He then added an 11-foot-1 broad jump and ran a 4.46-second 40 to prove the kind of athlete teams would be investing in.
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That performance turned Martin into a traveling man as teams wanted more time with him in person. Over a two-week stretch, he visited 10 teams all over the country for interviews, going to Tennessee, New Orleans, the New York Giants, Indianapolis, Seattle, Green Bay, Buffalo, Detroit, Washington, and Tampa Bay.
They all had their series of questions for Martin and gave their different feedback on his play, positive and negative. He described the experience as both exhausting and exciting.
"You'd fly in, meet with them all day, go to the hotel and try to get a little sleep before heading to the airport to head to the next city," he said. "It was a lot. There were like a few teams who stood out more than others, but I mean every visit I've been on was like, pretty good for me."
There's nothing left for Martin to do at this point except wait. He rented an Airbnb in Orlando to watch the draft surrounded by friends and family and no matter when he hears his name called, Martin said he will not take the moment for granted.
"I mean it's crazy man, just to see that this is all coming together for me, and yes definitely, it'll definitely be a surreal moment," he said.
Quan Martin Prospect Rankings
The different national NFL Draft gurus have made their picks for the top prospects heading into the three days of picks Thursday-Saturday in Kansas City. Here is where some of the experts have Fort Myers' Jartavius "Quan" Martin ranked with 102 picks being made over the first three rounds. There are 259 picks overall being made.
Mel Kiper Jr., ESPN - No. 67 overall, No. 4 safety
Todd McShay, ESPN - No. 72 overall, No. 4 safety
CBS Sports - No. 63 overall, No. 3 safety
Pro Football Network - No. 88 overall
Pro Football Focus - No. 94 overall
Watch the NFL Draft
The draft will be aired live all three days on ESPN and the NFL Network.
Round 1: Thursday beginning at 8 p.m. (teams get 10 minutes between picks)
Rounds 2 and 3: Friday beginning at 7 p.m. (7 minutes in Round 2, 5 minutes in Round 3)
Rounds 4 through 7: Saturday beginning at noon (5 minutes in Rounds 4-6, 4 minutes in Round 7)
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Illinois defensive back Jartavius Martin a high-round NFL Draft prospect
