Five months after signing on as a member of Cal’s 2010 recruiting class -- after originally being a Notre Dame verbal -- and citing the need to get away from Berkeley “distractions”, Chris Martin announced that he was leaving Cal and wound up at Florida a day later. Less than a year later, the defensive end left Gainesville as well following an herb-centered arrest.
Now, after spending the past two seasons at the JUCO level, Martin is back with an FBS program. For how long remains to be seen.
Martin confirmed to JayhawkSlant.com that he will sign with Kansas Wednesday after spending the 2012 season playing for City College of San Francisco. Jayhawks head coach Charlie Weis recruited Martin while the former was head coach at Notre Dame and the latter a high school player in Aurora, Colo.“After meeting with coach Weis that sealed the deal. We met and talked about things and got everything straight. The people here at Kansas I am dealing with makes me confident this is the right place. I’m going to KU.”
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“I’ve always looked at him (Weis) as a mentor. He’s a straight-shooter and he wouldn’t steer me wrong. He’s been genuine and we have talked several times what I have been through. He’s told me his plans for KU and I think I can come in and be successful.”
Weis was fired by Notre Dame following the 2009 regular season season, a little more than two months before Signing Day 2010 and nine months after Martin had given a verbal to Weis’ Irish. That firing led to Martin flipping his Notre Dame verbal commitment to a signed Letter of Intent with Cal. Weis served as the Gators’ offensive coordinator in 2011, hired six months prior to Martin’s departure from The Swamp.
Martin has yet to play a game at the FBS level, what with all the packing and unpacking and whatnot. He was rated as the No. 2 defensive end and the No. 18 player at any position in the country for the 2010 recruiting cycle.
In addition to Kansas, Martin held offers this time around from Nebraska, Washington State, San Diego State and Houston.