罢丑别听听补苍诲听聽are partnering with 草莓传媒 during the 2020-2021 high school football season to honor a Player of the Week. Read about this week鈥檚 Player of the Week below.
As college football recruiters called, texted and emailed this past year, Kandler Martin鈥檚 high school football coach made a habit out of telling anyone who would listen: Martin is on the cusp of stardom.
The Virginia high school football season was delayed to spring, preventing Martin from playing in the fall and perhaps making a convincing case for himself on the field during the normal recruiting cycle.
Once play started, however, the senior defensive end terrorized opponents. And in this past Saturday鈥檚 Virginia 5A championship game, Martin made one last impression.
Martin made nine tackles, four sacks and forced a fumble that he also recovered as Stone Bridge beat Highland Springs in overtime, 13-10, to win its second state title. For his efforts, Martin was named the Military Bowl DC Touchdown Club High School Football Player of the Week.
While much of the postgame focus was on the by wide receiver Jacob Thomas (last week鈥檚 DC Touchdown Club Player of the Week), Stone Bridge coach Mickey Thompson kept shaking his head at Martin鈥檚 performance.
鈥淚 walked away thinking that was one of the best defensive games we鈥檝e ever had here,鈥� said Thompson. 鈥淗e was all over the place. He鈥檚 been overshadowed the whole time. He had an unbelievable game.鈥�
Martin鈥檚 biggest play was a sack that forced Highland Springs to settle for a field goal on the opening drive of overtime. It was Martin鈥檚 16th sack this season 鈥� four short of single-season school record of 20, though Thompson noted that Martin had only 10 games in this shortened season.
At 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, Martin has good size for a high school player, but college coaches often look for players with bigger frames. He did not have any college football scholarship offers until January, when he quickly accepted an opportunity to play for VMI. Martin鈥檚 twin brother, Skylar, is a linebacker who has accepted a scholarship to play for James Madison University.
鈥淜andler is going to get bigger,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e talking about a kid with a baby face who doesn鈥檛 even shave yet and you鈥檙e talking about how big he is going to be as a 21-year-old, that鈥檚 crazy. I kept telling people how good he is going to be, but we couldn鈥檛 prove it because of COVID.鈥�
