‘He’s a train’: How Damien Martinez makes Hurricanes’ deep running back room even deeper

Mark Fletcher understands what makes Damien Martinez, the newest addition to the Miami Hurricanes’ backfield, such a promising running back. The two have similar styles, a combination of power and speed that can be threatening any time the ball is in their hands.

“He’s a train,” Fletcher said. “I’m going to add another train with him. It’s two trains coming at you. Boy, you better get out of the way.”

The Hurricanes were already pretty deep at running back before Martinez transferred to Miami from Oregon State.

Now that they’ve added a proven bell cow in Martinez to the mix, the Hurricanes have even more talent at their disposal in the run game to supplement what they expect to get from quarterback Cam Ward and the passing game.

And while Martinez is projected to get the bulk of the workload this season, which starts Aug. 31 against the Florida Gators, he’s not taking his position for granted.

“Every day, you’ve got to earn your place,” Martinez said Tuesday, ahead of the Hurricanes’ first official practice of fall camp. “You want to improve and be your best self every day. Be the best you can. It’s earned. Nothing’s given. I just want to come out here and prove that I can do that.”

He proved plenty over his first two seasons of college football.

Martinez ran for 2,167 yards and 16 touchdowns in his first two seasons of college football while averaging 6.1 yards per carry. He was first team All-Pac 12 and a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award (given annually to the top running back in college football) as a sophomore after running for 1,185 yards and nine touchdowns on 194 carries in 2023. His 98.75 rushing yards per game ranked 19th nationally.

But when asked what aspect of Martinez’s game will help Miami the most this season, Hurricanes running back coach Matt Merritt immediately responded “experience.”

“Damien’s played a lot of minutes and has a lot of reps,” Merritt said. “So just the experience he has — even in our meetings already, you can tell [the impact he has] just with some of the feedback he’s able to provide the guys and input he has. There’s no better teacher than experience. For him to be able to share that with the guys has been valuable.”

What’s also valuable: The rest of the running back room embracing Martinez as he joins the team.

Fletcher and redshirt sophomore Ajay Allen were two of four running backs who split the majority of the carries for Miami last season. Redshirt freshman Chris Johnson is poised to get looks after standing out during spring practices. The Hurricanes also signed Chris Wheatley-Humphrey and Jordan Lyle in their most recent recruiting class.

That’s five players who were expected to factor into the mix in the backfield.

Now, there’s a sixth.

“Adding talent is a great thing,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “And Damien is a proven dude. He’s a very proven dude. We’re going to continue to add guys like that because it makes us better on offense. Everybody needs to also embrace the fact that with more guys in the room, be happy when your buddy makes a play.”

Added Merritt: “It could have been very easy for someone like Mark and Ajay and CJ to feel some type of way and even for a young Jordan Lyle to feel some type of way, but they’ve all welcomed him with open arms. They understand that it takes every single one of us to be successful and to be able to help the University of Miami to win football games. Damien didn’t come in and just assert himself. He felt his way in but the fact that they welcomed him in made that transition really smooth.”

And to win, the Hurricanes’ running backs understand there’s power in numbers. Fletcher and Allen experienced that last season when the Hurricanes split reps among the two of them plus Henry Parrish and Don Chaney, who have since transferred to Ole Miss and Louisville respectively.

“Running backs, we get banged up every play,” said Fletcher, who ran for 514 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman in 2023 but missed all of spring practice while dealing with a Lisfranc injury. “Anything can happen, so the more the merrier.”

Dawson said the workload for specific running backs will likely change on a game-by-game basis but that he plans to utilize the depth that is at his disposal.

“We have talented guys,” Dawson said. “We’re gonna ride the hot hand but we’re also gonna make sure people are out there that are not dead tired. Having rooms the way they are right now, there’s no reason for one guy to carry the load. We have multiple guys that can contribute to the offense. We’re gonna keep that theme of getting guys touches. That’s a good thing.”

For Martinez, his focus for the next month is getting acclimated to the team after transferring in following spring practices. From a team perspective, there’s a playbook to learn and chemistry to build with his new teammates. Personally, he knows he needs to work on pass protection and show he can be “more of a running back without the ball.”

“We just want to put all the pieces together,” Martinez said, “and make sure we’re the No. 1 elite offense like we know we can be.”