Ohio State redshirt junior safety Cameron Martinez announced Thursday that he plans to enter the transfer portal once it opens on Monday. The news was first reported by Rivals’ Jeremy Birmingham.
Martinez is in his fourth season at Ohio State and has two seasons of eligibility remaining. He redshirted his freshman season in 2020 and played 13 games in both 2021 and 2022. He entered this season as a contender to start at nickel safety, and even took first-team reps at the position in the spring.
“The main thing for me is consistency,” Martinez said. “Knowing that the confidence I have for myself too, I feel like I’ve been building that. I built that last year, building that again with a second year under my belt with the defense and everything like that, too.”
The job, however, was eventually won by sophomore Sonny Styles and later split with junior cornerback Jordan Hancock. Martinez wound up seeing the field sparingly this season, appearing in just three games with two tackles.
Martinez was a four-star prospect out of Muskegon, Mich., in the 2020 recruiting class, and was known for his two-way ability coming out of high school. According to Birmingham, Martinez is open to player on either side of the ball at his next destination.
Martinez’ departure does hurt Ohio State’s depth at safety, as he occasionally came in at nickel, but it’s depth that can be backfilled by the incoming recruiting class as well as through the transfer portal. Martinez is the second player to announce his intention to enter the transfer portal, joining redshirt freshman defensive end Omari Abor.
