UMass LB Tyler Martin Buying Into B.O.S.
Linebacker Tyler Martin believes his team can win, takes ownership of being part of the turnaround and is ready to sacrifice to make it happen.
Tyler Martin has been around college football for a while now.
He’s been in different programs under different coaches around different players.
It’s obvious Martin has bought into the new staff at UMass and so many new teammates.
“It's been great,” the redshirt junior linebacker said of the transition to a new staff including head coach Joe Harasymiak, defensive coordinator Jared Keyte and linebackers coach Garrett Gillick.
“I was at Arizona my first year, then UMass for two years with the previous staff and then Coach H, Coach Keyte and all of them come in and shout out my position coach. Coach G is awesome. It's been great, honestly.”
Martin appreciated the opportunity to speak with Harasymiak shortly after the coach took the job.
“I think we aligned on a lot of things that we believed in and what we believed for this program,” said Martin. “I think that was something that really intrigued me.
“I love it here. I'm a Massachusetts kid and sort of playing for my hometown university and the flagship university of my state was really important to me. Being able to then later on connect with Coach Keyte and Coach Gillick, and then even just the new guys that have come in. I'm close with everybody and everybody's really coming together; offense, defense, special teams. I couldn't be more excited about it.”
Martin pointed to Harasymiak’s B.O.S. (Belief, Ownership, Sacrifice) mantral.
“I know this place can be great and go back to winning a lot of games like it did a little while ago,” Martin said of his belief. “I think that's something that we kind of saw eye to eye on right away. Where we've been, that's not where we're going to be and that's not something that we want to continue, obviously.
“That was the big thing when I talked to the coaches. There was true belief in their eyes and I think they saw that as well, vice versa with me. I truly believe this place can be special and can compete week in and week out. I can't wait for the rest of camp to finish up and then get on to Week One.”
As a Massachusetts guy who has been in the program, he accepts some ownership for getting things turned back around.
“That's something that I think it's huge for me,” he said. “I think I've been here and seen sort of things that might have worked and might not have worked. I think just being here and being a guy that's seen the revolving door that this place has been over the last little while, just being able to talk to the guys that are coming in that are new and sort of be someone to lean on about how stuff used to be and how we don't want that stuff anymore. I think that's been super important.”
Martin has already proven he’s willing to sacrifice, which is evidenced by him recently earning the Michael Boland Inspirational Award along with offensive lineman Ryan Mosesso. The award goes to one player on offense and one on defense who “reflect Boland's characteristics, including his hard-working attitude, determination, integrity and commitment to UMass football.”
Boland was a four-time letterwinner for UMass at right guard, starting 36 games and appearing in 43 from 2013-2016. He passed away in 2017 while preparing for the NFL Draft.
“A little bit surprised, thankful for my teammates and my coaches,” Martin said of receiving the award. “Definitely a true honor. A lot of old teammates of mine and guys who are pretty historic to the program have been honored with the award, so definitely something that I'm holding close and I'm definitely proud of myself for.”
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