Patch's Own Taylor Martinez Inducted Into Nebraska's Football Hall Of Fame

OMAHA, NE — Patch's own Taylor Martinez, who led the Cornhuskers to more than 30 wins and threw for over 7,000 yards and 56 touchdowns during his four seasons at the University of Nebraska, was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame.

Martinez, now a senior product manager at Patch, and five other Nebraska standouts joined the state's football Hall of Fame this year, including defensive tackle David Clark, linebacker Troy Dumas, punter Sam Koch, defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, and offensive lineman Spencer Long.

Martinez began his tenure a redshirt in 2009 coming out of Corona, California. As a freshman during the 2010 season, Martinez played 13 games for Nebraska in the Big 12, edging out fellow quarterbacks Zac Lee and Cody Green.

That year, the electric Martinez — also known as T-Magic — started with a bang, rushing for over 120 yards in each of his first three games in wins over Western Kentucky, Idaho and at Washington. n those three games alone, Martinez notched eight rushing touchdowns and added a passing touchdown. In just his fifth game against Kansas State, Martinez rushed for over 240 yards and four touchdowns.

"Pretty much everything we ran was clicking pretty well,” Martinez said that night, according to the Omaha World Herald. "I was making the right reads."

The team, ranked No. 17 in the country, went on to win eight games that year, falling to unranked Washington in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30, 2010. Martinez was a freshman All-American and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

The following year, Martinez led the team to four straight wins to start the year, including a week one win over Chattanooga in which he rushed for three touchdowns and over 130 yards. The following week, he put up 166 yards rushing and added another pair of rushing touchdowns, to go along with over 200 yards passing and one passing touchdown.

The 2011 team, ranked No. 21, went on to fall to No. 10 South Carolina in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 2, 2012.

The 2012 season proved to be Martinez's best year as a collegiate passer. He threw for more than 2,800 yards and 23 touchdowns, and added another 1,000-plus yards on the ground and 10 rushing touchdowns. The team won 10 games that year, including four of their first five, and later stringing together a stretch of six consecutive wins. That year, the team, ranked No. 23 in the country, fell to No. 6 Georgia in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1, 2013.

Martinez was first-team All-Big Ten quarterback selection of the coaches that year, and set a Nebraska season record with 3,890 yards of total offense.

A promising 2013 season saw Martinez begin the year with back-to-back wins over Wyoming and Southern Mississippi. A Heisman hopeful, his season — and ultimately his collegiate career — ended due to a foot injury that sidelined him four all but four games that year.

"Taylor's injury happened in week one and after several months of rehab we have discovered that the more he does on it the worse that it gets," his father, Casey Martinez told The Associated Press in November of that year. "Very, very unfortunate location and aggravating injury that can't be toughed out."

"This is a nightmare way to finish your college career, by getting this kind of injury in the first week of the season, which essentially has cost Taylor his whole senior season as well as many team and personal goals."