Troy University Athletics
Carlton Martial Named No. 35 Player of 2019
1/22/2020 4:48:00 PM | Football
TROY, Ala. – Just two years into his collegiate career, Carlton Martial is a two-time All-American, a first team All-Sun Belt honoree and a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy – the nation's top former walk-on. On Wednesday, Martial added another notable accomplishment to his already overflowing resume when Pro Football Focus slotted the Troy linebacker at No. 35 on their list of top 101 college players from 2019.
As a sophomore, Martial became just the 12thplayer and first underclassman in the last 20 years at the FBS level to finish a season with at least 100 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and three interceptions. He closed the year with 126 tackles, the most by a Troy player since 2000, and 18.5 tackles for loss, the fifth most in a season in Troy history, and three picks.
Martial was the only player in the country to rank in the top eight nationally in tackles and tackles for loss. He recorded double-digit tackles in seven of Troy's games and added seven or more tackles in four other games. As a freshman, he was named to multiple Freshman All-America teams including USA Today, The Athletic and the Football Writers Association. This past season, Martial was tabbed to the PFF All-America Second Team.The 𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙀 of the 𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙀 ❗️@PFF_College ranked the top 101 players of 2019 & 👀 who checked in at No. 3️⃣5️⃣.
— Troy Trojans Football (@TroyTrojansFB) January 22, 2020
👉 Carlton Martial
#DTW | #OneTROY ⚔️🏈 pic.twitter.com/8e9hw3AlYS
Pro Football Focus on Carlton Martial:
The best defensive player when he was on the field, Martial capped his second straight year with an overall grade of 90.9 or higher and finished with the country's second-highest overall grade at 91.3. Martial hardly lapsed at all this season for Troy, finishing multiple games with elite grades overall as he was equally elite against the run and in coverage. He made three interceptions and three pass breakups against just one touchdown allowed in coverage while he didn't allow a single reception to go over 20 yards this season. He chipped in with 64 total defensive stops, three of which were sacks, another 13 that came in coverage and 48 that came against the run, the latter ranking as the fourth-most in the country. A true three-down threat at the Group of 5 level, Martial is set to make waves as potentially one of the better linebackers to ever do it within the Sun Belt.
About the Pro Football Focus College 101:
As with any list put together by PFF, the goal of the PFF College 101 is to identify the best players from the past season. It's generally understood that not all positions are created equal at the college level, so while the list of top 101 players from 2019 is mostly backed by our PFF play-by-play grades, some leeway is granted to individual players based on factors such as positional value, workload as a percentage of their respective team's snaps and level of competition on a game-by-game basis.
Players Mentioned
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