The father of Nebraska commit Taylor Martinez (FS/QB, 6-1, 185, 4.5), offered these thoughts about his son's recent decision in favor of the Cornhuskers.
"Taylor said he likes the small town life better than the big city life, and that the Nebraska system fits him well on either side of the ball," Casey Martinez said of his son's Aug. 22 commitment. "He likes the west coast offense and a very aggressive style of play on defense that has their safeties very involved and on the move with blitzes, etc.
"Defensively, which is where Taylor thinks he will play, he will play for the best defensive mind in college football - Bo Pelini - who has put out numerous safeties into the NFL," Casey said. "He likes the fact that they will have coaching stability considering that this is a new coaching staff, and the fact that Tom Osborne is actively involved and committed to bringing Nebraska back to a national championship caliber team.
"Taylor also liked the down-to-earth, unpretentious personality of the coaches, especially coach Pelini, who is a disciplinarian that coaches with integrity," Mr. Martinez said. "In athletics, Nebraska has more academic All-Americans than any other college. Second is Notre Dame.
"Nebraska would like Taylor to come on his official visit during a 'bye' week," he said. "I would say second to Nebraska would have been between Tennessee and Utah. I spoke to Oklahoma and Michigan during the past month, who also expressed interest and wanted to see a few games in the new system at Corona Centennial (Calif.).
"This is a solid commitment from Taylor and he believes in his heart that this is where he wants to play and who he wants to play for," Casey said. "Free safety will most likely be the position that he will play and he is excited to play for one of the top defensive minds in the country.
"If need be, Taylor has the ability to run the style of offense that Nebraska runs (west coast) and accept the challenge to compete with anyone for that position if that's where the coaches feel that he can best help the team," he said. "It will be hard to find a better fit for Taylor, and we considered many of the top programs who will possibly offer him during the course of the season, but he is convinced this is where he wants to play.
"As a family, we thought that he should commit to the school of his choice once he has done his due diligence on the other schools that he really liked through visits, research, etc.," Mr. Martinez emphasized. "He has done so. Also, we felt that committing once he found the right fit would be best so that he can focus on his team week-to-week as opposed to being side-tracked by the recruiting scene.
"Several of the schools that Taylor unofficially visited and a few others, insinuated to Taylor that they would offer him in September," Mr. Martinez said.