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The transfer portal and the NIL Era have made the line between professional sports and the formerly amateur realm of college athletics increasingly blurry, and nothing highlights that reality quite like a situation that’s unfolded courtesy of (soon-to-be former) Oregon State running back Damien Martinez.
Martinez has been a member of the Oregon State Beavers since 2022 and earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors during a stellar introductory campaign where he racked up seven touchdowns while recording close to 1,000 yards on the ground.
He managed to top both of those marks last season but encountered an off-the-field issue in the form of a DUI arrest at the end of November. He was initially suspended for the team’s bowl game against Notre Dame but was ultimately reinstated after prosecutors declined to pursue the case.
All indications pointed to Martinez returning to Oregon State for his junior season, but things took a fairly unexpected turn on Wednesday when he announced he was planning on entering the transfer portal when the next window officially opens on April 16th.
— damien martinez🔸 (@damienfor6) April 10, 2024
While the statement Martinez issued was fairly generic, he provided some more insight into his decision while speaking with Oregon Live in the wake of the announcement in a text message where he pointed the finger at Dam Nation, the NIL collective he claims failed to follow through on promises he received, saying:
“I want everyone to know that they did not buy me a house. I did. They did not buy me the car. I DID. They did not give me $400K. I didn’t receive even 100K of the 400K.
Like they say, ([it’s] a business decision. All these fans saying I got all this stuff and that they gave me everything. The collective didn’t give me anything. They lied.”
Kyle Bjornstad, the co-founder of the collective in question, countered that assertion by telling the outlet “we have 1000% delivered” while noting Martinez got a car via the dealership endorsement it arranged and was receiving quarterly payments until he announced his decision to transfer.
I’m sure Oregon State fans have plenty of thoughts on the matter, but even if you don’t have any skin in the game, it’s kind of hard to ignore a story that’s really an indictment of the current state of college sports—and one that’s probably only going to be more common moving forward.