adrian martinez emerges in stallions qb rotation to lead win over memphis showboats

APRIL 14, 2024 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

By Steve Irvine

Skip Holtz took a break from the two-quarterback system on Saturday night. The Birmingham Stallions head coach chose, instead, to give the football to Adrian Martinez.

Turns out that was a pretty solid decision.

Martinez accounted for 378 yards and three touchdowns during the Stallions’ 33-14 UFL victory over the Memphis Showboats in the Protective Stadium opener for Birmingham. While his big game played out under the lights on Saturday, the decision to keep Matt Corral on the bench was made because of his performance in the middle of the week.

“I think he earned that during the course of the week,” said Holtz, whose team improved to 3-0 and remains the lone unbeaten team in the UFL. “He had a great day on Wednesday, which was our work day this week. He’s earned this opportunity.”

Time will tell if Martinez gets the same opportunity next Saturday night when the DC Defenders, who are 2-1, come to Protective Stadium. He certainly took a large step toward securing the starting nod with what he did in his first professional start on Saturday.

Martinez, a Fresno, California native, who played collegiately at Nebraska and Kansas State, was sensational. He was 18 of 28 through the air for 334 yards with touchdown passes of 51 yards to Marlon Williams and six yards to Jace Sternberger. Martinez also rushed for a game-high 44 yards on five carries, including an 11-yard touchdown run.

Certainly it wasn’t flawless but it was impressive, particularly on a night when last year’s USFL MVP Alex McGough, who is now a member of the Green Bay Packers, was watching from the sideline.

“I’ve said it the past two games, whenever you can come out of a game and learn from  a win, instead of a loss, we’ll definitely take that,” Martinez said. “I’m fortunate to be around some great players (and) a great football coach. But there are some mistakes I made. I have faith in what we do, what we preach. I got stronger, just held the faith (and) we were able to capitalize and put more points on the board.”

Now Holtz has a decision to make as the Stallions move forward. Does Martinez continue as the fulltime quarterback or does Corral, the starter in the first two games, who was ready if needed, return to splitting the duties?

 “I’m in a great situation, as a coach,”  Holtz said. “I think we have two very good quarterbacks.”

Holtz then corrected himself by adding J’Mar Smith to the conversation.

“I think we have three,” Holtz said. “The other one (Smith) only went 11-1 and won a (USFL) championship. I can’t even take J’Mar out of it. One of the hardest decisions I had to make, was coming out of camp, we couldn’t get three quarterbacks ready. The guy who knew it the best (was J’Mar), but when you looked at the numbers through camp, (he was third). We recorded every throw, every ball in danger, every accuracy, every read through four weeks of camp. Number wise, these two came up as the most productive. It was a hard meeting with J’Mar. I think he’s handled it like a pro. He is a cheerleader. He’s vocal. He’s there every day. He’s coaching on the field, trying to help everybody. I think it just goes to show the team attitude and the way these guys have jelled and the way they love each other. A big part of our success, I believe, is how together this football team plays.”