Apr 9, 2023 3 min read

Pennsylvania’s top-ranked football recruit in the Class of 2024 is off the board.

Friday, Quinton Martin, an All-State running back and defensive back that led Belle Vernon to its second WPIAL championship, and two weeks later, its first PIAA crown, verbally committed to Penn State University.

While Martin committing to Penn State did not come as a surprise, he did it without announcing a top schools list or setting up a public announcement.

On Friday, Martin spoke to Adam Friedman from Rivals.com.

“Penn State has always been my dream school since I was a little boy,” Martin told Rivals.

While Martin could not be reached for comment over the holiday weekend, Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert was glad to speak about his All-American.

“Penn State was able to land the big one,” Humbert said about the humble Martin. “Aside from being an extremely talented football player, Penn State will automatically benefit from getting an extremely high character individual.”

In the recruiting world, it is rare when a player ranks as the top recruit in his state with all four major recruiting services (ESPN, Rivals, 247Sports and On3), but Martin is the unanimous top-ranked player in Pa.

ESPN has Martin ranked as the 27th top player in the nation in the ESPN 300 followed by Rivals (37), 247Sports (48) and On3 (99 in its On3 300) with all four ranking him as a four-star recruit.

On3 combines all four ranking sites to form its industry ranking, and Martin comes in at a 95.31 average on a 100 scale, good for 41st on the list nationally.

Martin rushed for 1,279 yards and 21 touchdowns on 149 carries, good for 8.6 yards per carry this past season.

Martin has rushed for 2,638 yards and 39 touchdowns on 284 carries (9.3 average per carry) for his career.

He also caught 29 passes this past season for 415 yards and seven scores while returning two punts for touchdowns.

While Martin was the feature back for Belle Vernon, it is still unknown what position he will play in college, although Penn State recruited him as a running back.

Martin is ranked as the second top athlete in the country by Rivals, while ESPN has him third and both On3 and 247 have him fourth.

Martin could play running back at Penn State, but his position could ultimately be determined by how much more his body grows.

At 6-2 and 195 pounds, Martin could end up at wide receiver or on the defensive side of the ball as a defensive back or linebacker.

Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida State and Tennessee courted Martin, while the other two local Division I schools, Pitt and West Virginia, were also interested.