Miami QB Tate Martell taking another leave of absence but is still a Hurricane, Diaz says

Tate Martell, the nationally known, wildly popular Ohio State transfer when he came to the Miami Hurricanes in the offseason, has taken a two-game leave of absence but is still on the team, Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz said Monday afternoon.

In 10 games, Martell has never thrown a pass for the Hurricanes.

“Tate came to me midweek last week, felt like he needed another personal leave,’’ Diaz said. “We decided together that it would probably be better just to go ahead take this one [FIU] and the Duke game and sit out instead of just being in and out, in and out, in and out.“

Diaz said that Martell “also reiterated that Miami is where he wants to be, doesn’t want to leave. But he’s got to resolve these issues and we support him in that.”

A redshirt sophomore, Martell ultimately lost the race to start at quarterback for UM in fall camp, finishing third behind current starter Jarren Williams and backup N’Kosi Perry.

According to what coaches have said, Martell has been battling the emotional turmoil of the “roller-coaster’’ season and how he fits into the program.

This is his second leave of absence this season. Martell missed the game at Oct. 26 game at Pittsburgh due to what Diaz called back then a “medical leave of absence.’’ He returned immediately afterward for Florida State week.

Martell was converted to a receiver earlier this season, which was his choice, Diaz said last week. But he never has caught a pass for the Hurricanes.

His UM stats: Two rushes in four games for 2 yards.

When told last week that Martell hadn’t played a lot and asked if he the quarterback had his own wildcat package, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Dan Enos said, “I think Tate has had some issues here and there, things of that nature that he’s been going through. And we’re obviously here to support him.

“We had a package last week [against Louisville] that was ready for him. We just didn’t get to it. It wasn’t anything that he did or didn’t do.

“Tate is a guy now that has kind of settled in to where he’s going to be. He’s kind of had a little bit of a roller-coaster situation about positions and things like that. But he’s been a guy the last couple of weeks that has really practiced really hard and has been really diligent about his preparation. We’ll always have some things in there that we can do with him and it will be kind of how the flow of the game goes. If we think we need to do it we’ll use it. If not we’ll just continue to work it.”

Diaz was asked last week if receiver was not the ideal fit for Martell.

“It was really letting him dictate,’’ the coach said. “Receiver was his idea at the beginning. That was not something we pushed on him. And going to quarterback is what he felt like he wanted to transition back to, and we were fine with that, too.”

Martell played high school football at Las Vegas Gorman Bishop High with UM tight end Brevin Jordan and safety Bubba Bolden.