Belle Vernon star Quinton Martin picks Penn State

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, April 7, 2023 | 9:34 PM

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Penn State landed its first WPIAL running back recruit since Miles Sanders when Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin committed to the Nittany Lions.

Martin, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior, announced his decision Friday on Twitter. He chose Penn State from a list of college offers that included both Pitt and West Virginia, along with Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Virginia Tech and others.

“Me and my family talked about it, and we were just ready to commit,” Martin told Blue White Illustrated. “We had our minds made up. We thought this was what was best for me and we made it happen, so we got on the phone with coach (James) Franklin.”

Like Sanders in 2016, Martin is ranked as Pennsylvania’s top recruit in his graduating class. Rivals.com rates Martin as a four-star prospect and ranks him second among running backs nationally in the 2024 class.

Overall, he’s ranked 37th nationally.

Sanders, a Woodland Hills graduate, was a 1,200-yard rusher as a Penn State junior and is now a fifth-year player in the NFL.

Martin surely has similar aspirations.

He scored 31 of Belle Vernon’s 70 touchdowns last season and led the Leopards to their first state title. He rushed for 1,279 yards and added 424 yards more on 28 catches.

In the WPIAL finals at Acrisure Stadium, Martin scored touchdowns three different ways last November, the best being a dazzling 51-yard punt return. He also caught a touchdown pass and ran for another score as Belle Vernon won its first WPIAL title since 1995.

Two weeks later in the state finals, Martin scored the Leopards’ only touchdown in a 9-8 victory.

He was named WPIAL Player of the Year by TribLive HSSN and Westmoreland County Player of the Year by the Tribune-Review. He earned statewide recognition as a first-team all-state running back in PIAA Class 3A.

Maxpreps named him as an all-purpose back on its Junior All-American team.

Martin told BWI that while Penn State recruited him “100 percent” as a running back, he also expects the coaching staff to “move me around and be diverse with me,” including playing defense, when he arrives on campus.

In all, Martin had more than 20 scholarship offers, the most recent coming from Miami (Fla.) in January. He also listed offers from South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan State, Texas A&M, Louisville, Boston College, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Texas, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Maryland and Rutgers.

The multi-sport athlete also was a basketball standout for Belle Vernon.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon