FSU football: Punter Tommy Martin seizing opportunity to play

FSU football has always had a next man up mentality when a starting playing wasn’t available. The mantra holds true for even the punter as well.

FSU football has been without its starting punter Logan Tyler the past two games.

Tyler has been suspended indefinitely pending an investigation from an incident that happened in August. He set the FSU record for number of punts and yardage as a junior last season.

However, you wouldn’t know he hasn’t been on the field with how well his replacement Tommy Martin has been punting.

Martin is quietly averaging nearly 43 yards per punt through two games. Most importantly, teams have only returned four of 18 punts for just two yards against the Noles.

Martin has had three of his 11 punts downs inside the 20 yard line and has blasted a few punts well over 50 yards.

He has a strong showing against Virginia Saturday night. The Cavaliers first possession after a FSU punt began at their own 18 yard line following a 36 yard punt by Martin.

Their next possession began at their own 20 yard line following a 43 yard punt that couldn’t be returned. Martin’s third punt was a 59 yard bomb that forced Virginia to start at their own seven yard line.

Martin’s fourth punt for a 43 yard kick that was fair caught at the UVA 20 yard line.  His fifth punt was for 36 yards and fair caught at the UVA 11 yard line.

His sixth and final punt of the game was for 43 yards with UVA fair catching the ball at their own 28 yard line.

That’s an amazing performance that went unnoticed by most, but that’s a heck of an advantage in field position as a result of Martin’s punts.

Virginia had an average starting field position of their own 17 yard line on their possessions following a Martin punt.

It’s tough for teams to drive 80 yards or more and score consistently even against bad defenses like FSU.

Having Martin to show up and show out in the absence of Logan Tyler has been a welcome sight and one FSU fans should give more props to.