The beat goes on for Jamie Martin.
These days, when Martin is not helping raise his three children or coaching high school football in a suburb of St. Louis, the former record-setting Weber State quarterback keeps time for his pop cover band, “Explode the Moon.”
Martin, who also played in the NFL through 2007, took up the drums a few years ago and, along with a few friends, has turned a hobby into a fund-raising venture.
“It’s a fun hobby,” said Martin from his home in Ladue, Mo. “We play charity events for free. We play 80s’ stuff, “Foo Fighters” stuff.
“I’ve always loved music, but when you have a sports career it takes up all your time.”
In a way, Martin has always set the rhythm and tone, usually from the pocket. Between 1989 and 1992, the 6-foot-2 quarterback took the lead role in Weber State’s high-octane offense.
Martin left Weber State as the career leader in a plethora of categories. And while some of those career numbers have since been eclipsed, Martin’s name remains a constant throughout the school’s record book.
The two-time All-American and Walter Payton award recipient still owns four of the top 10 passing performances in WSU history, including a 624-yard passing day at Idaho State. Martin ranks ninth on the Big Sky Conference’s list of “50 Greatest Male Athletes.’’
“He was fabulous,” said former Weber State coach Dave Arslanian. “He was very quiet…but he would say something when something needed to be said.”
Diplomatically, Arslanian stopped short of calling Martin the school’s greatest quarterback. His words spoke volumes.
“Jamie always played well and in big games always played big,” Arslanian said.
In 1991, Martin and Weber State’s offense played like giants. The Arroyo Grande High School (Calif.) product threw for 4,125 yards and 35 touchdowns.
Martin threw for seven touchdowns against Eastern Washington in a 63-59 shootout, which pretty much summed up Weber State’s season, one which saw the Wildcats come up just short of a Big Sky Conference championship.
Still, the team’s 8-4 mark – 6-2 in league play – was a good enough for an at-large berth in the then I-AA playoffs.
Back-to-back losses at Montana (47-38) and Nevada (55-49) prevented the Wildcats from owning the Big Sky title. Needless to say, offense wasn’t the problem.
“Obviously, it was disappointing,” Martin said. “(But) I’ve learned through my career to see the whole process, to look at what really happened.”
As with winning the Walter Payton Award, which is given to the best player in Football Championship Subdivision, Martin looks at the overall.
“It’s a reflection of great players and coaches,” he said.
In 1991, Weber State owned a stable of great offensive performers. Runner Geoff Mitchell gained 1,170 yards and scored 28 total touchdowns. Receivers Alfred Pupunu and Dave Hall each eclipsed 1,000 yards and combined for 22 scores.
“Our defense was less than spectacular,” said former WSU sports information director Brad Larsen. “(Martin) had to throw for all those yards. We had many (high-scoring) games.”
Martin’s prolific junior season, one in which he helped set a then FCS record of 578.5 yards a game, was the crest of a wave that began building his freshman season. Martin, coming off of a redshirt year, became the starter midway through the 1989 campaign.
Weber State’s Mike Price recruited Martin to run the spread offense, an attack that was still in its infancy. Price and Arslanian, then the offensive coordinator, fell in love with the offense that was refined by Jack Elway at San Jose State.
“(Martin) had a lot of good tools coming out of high school,” Arslanian said. “We were expecting him to be the starting quarterback.”
That Martin wound up at Weber State at all was due to Price’s lack of pressure. Martin compared Price to a car salesman who succeeds with confidence.
“I had a ton of offers,” Martin said. “But Mike said, ‘take all the recruiting trips you want, there will always be a scholarship sitting here for you.’ They showed a lot of confidence in me.”
Martin threw for just nine touchdowns his freshman season as WSU struggled to a 3-8 mark. But Martin was also a key cog in a change of recruiting philosophy.
It was an era where Weber State stopped focusing on junior college players in favor of high school athletes.
“I think it was one of his first games as a starter, he threw four picks,” Arslanian remembered. “I asked him, ‘Do you want to come out or do you want to fight through it?’ He fought through it.”
As a
sophomore, Martin bloomed, throwing for 3,700 yards and 23 touchdowns, topping the FCS in passing and earning All-American honors.
Martin’s senior season, though still prolific – 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns – also saw the team hurt by graduation and injuries. The Wildcats still finished with a winning record.
Martin finished his career by completing 61 percent of his passes for 12,207 yards and 87 scores.
“I remember a lot of things,” Martin said of his time at Weber State. “Most of all I remember the people.”
Though undrafted by the NFL, Martin signed with the Los Angeles Rams and spent much of his career as a backup. Though, due to an injury to Marc Bulger in 2005, Martin recorded a 4-1 record as a starter for the now St. Louis Rams.
“I was lucky to do what I did,” Martin says of his NFL tenure. “It’s easy to sit back and say, ‘You didn’t start,’ but I competed. No one gave me anything. I competed for 16 years and when I look back I’m proud.”
Nowadays, Martin coaches at Parkway West High School in Ballwin, Mo., and, of course, plays music.
However, it is the football that still runs deep.
“When I retired, I felt I was exhausted with football,” he said. “But once the fall came around, I found it’s in the blood. I can’t get away from it. And it’s fun to be with the kids.”
