Belle Vernon Freshman Quinton Martin’s Latest Power Five Offer Comes From Penn State

Western Pennsylvania has a couple of underclassman football players that are turning into national recruits in Laurel Highlands 2023 4-star athlete Rodney Gallagher and 2023 4-star athlete Ta’Mere Robinson.

Now a third player has entered that category, Belle Vernon freshman Quinton Martin.

The six-foot-three, 180-pound athlete received his first D-I offer back in November from his hometown Pitt Panthers. His recruitment went quiet for a few months but starting in March, Martin has picked up offers from West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Rutgers and today from James Franklin and Penn State.

“I called the coaches at Penn State today because I had some questions about their campus and during our talk, they said how they like my film and how they like me as a flavor and said they’d like to offer me a full scholarship to Penn State University,” said Martin. “I didn’t expect that at all. Prior to this, they had just sent me a questionnaire but no, I wasn’t expecting the offer. Coach Franklin was the one that told me I had the offer but prior to that, I was on the phone with Coach Terry (Smith).”

“Honestly, when Coach Franklin told me that, I was just speechless. I didn’t know what to say because I was excited and shocked at the same time. Before the offer came, they asked me how tall I was, how much I weighed, asked how my grades were and then some questions about basketball.”

Getting this type of attention is something that most freshman don’t have to deal with and while Martin didn’t see all of this coming, he tells PSN that he’s happy it’s happening and definitely isn’t complaining about it.

“Honestly, all of this is so exciting and something that I’ve always wanted to go through,” said Martin. “I’m starting to get used to all of this now but it’s still every exciting. I thought that I would eventually get offers but I never thought all of this would be happening so soon. All the programs that have been in touch tell me that they really like my film, that I’m a very respectful person and they can tell that I’m a very athletic person.”

Martin is already 6-foot-3 and being so young, he has plenty of time to still grow. He’s getting recruited by all of these schools as just an athlete and tells PSN that he has no preference as far as a future position.

“I just ended basketball season so right now, I’m just working out and going to the gym almost every day. I play 7-on-7 with a team called Evolve and just training.”

Last season for Belle Vernon, Martin played receiver, running back and defensive back and gained 425 yards and six touchdowns. Martin was also recently invited to play in the 2024 Under Armour All-American Game.