Rutgers' Martinek leaves legacy throughout state

KEITH SARGEANT
STAFF WRITER

PISCATAWAY — Ask Paul Reduzzi what stands out the most about Joe Martinek, and the former Hopatcong High School football coach is torn between three things.

Is it the work ethic that allowed Martinek to play for Hopatcong's varsity team as a freshman? Is it the determination that made Martinek accomplish his goal of playing running back at Rutgers when virtually no other major college football suitor gave him the chance? Or is it how unassuming New Jersey's most accomplished rusher is on and off the field?

"His work ethic and determination stand out the most probably," Reduzzi said. "Anything he sets his mind to he usually does. I think he got used to people telling him he couldn't do something and then proving those people wrong. That's what kept him where he is now, when no one recruited him as a running back and no one believed he could play running back at that level, he just never let that get him down. I look back now and I think that determination is one of the things I'm most proud of him about."

Reduzzi, who left Hopatcong to coach Pen Argyl (Pa.) High the same season Martinek entered Rutgers in 2007, laughs when told that Martinek is a tough interview for reporters.

"I think Joe gets embarrassed talking about himself sometimes," said Reduzzi, whose basement is wallpapered with newspaper articles detailing Martinek's exploits for the Sussex County program. "It's a great family, they've helped him out in so many ways and they kept things in great perspective even in the midst of everything he accomplished.

"But it's not fake with Joe, he's really that unassuming and that modest. He'd rather talk about his brother, he'd rather talk about one of his teammates, than put the spotlight on himself."

Martinek, who will likely start at running back when Rutgers plays host to South Florida on Thursday night (7:45 p.m., ESPN), could probably run for mayor of his lakeside town and win election.

"I know Joe definitely has the mystique," Hopatcong track and field coach Mike Juskus said. "I mean, they all know Joe Martinek up here."

When Martinek returns home and walks the streets downtown, those who know him best say he's enough of a local celebrity to generate stares from folks passing by. In fact, the JoeMartinek.com Web site, created by a fellow Hopatcong resident, has generated more than 30,000 page views since 2006.

"My dad will tell me stories of all the people he runs into that want to talk about my accomplishments," Martinek said, sitting on a bench outside Rutgers' practice field recently. "I don't really notice (the staring) but I'll be walking downtown or at one of the midget (Pop Warner) games and my dad will tell me everyone's looking at me. I'm just oblivious to it."

That Martinek leads New Jersey's college football team in rushing is no small feat, considering it wasn't until midway through his freshman campaign that he was given the chance to play running back. Despite finishing his scholastic career as New Jersey's all-time leading rusher with 7,589 yards and 79 touchdowns, Martinek was only offered scholarships by two other FBS (I-A) programs.

"It was always a question a little bit of our schedule and a little bit of it was a four-year mark with him breaking the state record," Reduzzi said. "There were a lot of questions of whether he was capable of doing it at that level. As we sent tape out, Vanderbilt and FIU were the only two schools that pursued him and were willing to give him a shot at running back."

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano couldn't help but be intrigued by Martinek's rushing prowess at Hopatcong, where he rushed for 4,579 yards and 55 touchdowns in leading the Chiefs to a 20-3 record over his final two seasons.

"He had some crazy games, like 398 (yards) and performances like that," the Rutgers coach said. "But the question always was the competition because it wasn't big-school football."

Martinek, who signed with Rutgers knowing his first opportunity would come at strong safety, impressed Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano the few times he played tailback for the scout team in 2007.

"You gotta give Greg a lot of credit because you'll see coaches bring in as many skill athletes as they can and then turn them into other positions," Reduzzi said. "It's not too often that you bring in a defensive player and move him to starting halfback. So he was open minded about it, and gave Joe a chance to prove himself."

Martinek made the most of his limited opportunities last fall, rushing for 404 yards on 78 carries and four touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. His defining moment came in Rutgers' 49-16 win at South Florida last November, when he rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

"Joe attacks every game like a champion," said Kordell Young, Rutgers' third-down tailback. "He runs hard every time he touches the ball. And it's kind of hard to keep tackling somebody who runs that hard and is so strong over and over again."

The 6-0, 215-pound Martinek entered the summer in a three-way competition for the starting spot, but emerged as the featured running back by the end of preseason camp. He has started six of Rutgers' eight games, leading the team in rushing five times while compiling 601 yards and seven touchdowns overall.

"He obviously had a great high school career but the more experience you get against good players in college, the better you get," fullback Jack Corcoran said. "I think that's the case with him. He's really becoming a premier back."

Colin McEvoy remembers the disbelief he felt while following Martinek's eye-popping statistics in the newspaper throughout his senior season at Pascack Valley High. But McEvoy says it wasn't until he started watching highlights of Martinek running the ball that he came away impressed.

"On film, you could see he was a really fast guy and he was the best player they had on offense and defense," said McEvoy, a walk-on linebacker in his junior year at Rutgers.

It was during his senior year at Pascack Valley High when McEvoy and his teammates logged onto JoeMartinek.com for an impromptu scouting session in preparation of their team's meeting with Hopatcong in the sectional semifinals.

"We'd be sitting there in our cafeteria watching film because he has all his videos on the Web site," McEvoy said. "He has videos (dating back) to kindergarten."

Credit the extra film study for the job Pascack Valley did on Martinek, holding him to 15 yards on 17 carries in a 22-0 victory. Yet, even in what turned out to be the worst rushing performance in Martinek's career, McEvoy couldn't help but be impressed with his future teammate.

"We pretty much knew what their game plan was, but he still ran hard," McEvoy said. "I'm kind of happy he didn't get recruited by a lot of people because he ended up here. The guy is doing great things here."

It didn't take long once Martinek entered Hopatcong High in 2003 to make the varsity football team.

One day, as a matter of fact.

"It happened right away," Martinek said. "I remember the first week, Coach Reduzzi introduced me to the freshman coach and said, 'OK, say hi. Now come with me — that'll be the last time you see him.' Ever since then I was playing varsity."

Reduzzi said he knew about Martinek's potential as far back as his Pop Warner days.

"I got to see him at the midget level and he'd have games where he'd have four carries and four touchdowns," Reduzzi said. "There were a lot of players that could dominate at the midget level and never make it as a high school player, but Joe ad something different about him. He had field vision. His running style was different, but his leg strength, even at a young age, was phenomenal."

It took Martinek 16 games into his Rutgers career to rush for his first 100-yard game. At Hopatcong, it only took two.

"I remember my freshman year, my first (100-yard game) was against Newton," Martinek said. "We had to run the ball to get the clock out, and I remember they gave me seven straight running plays and that ended up sealing the game."

It proved to be Hopatcong's only win in a 1-9 campaign, and it wasn't until Martinek's junior season that the Chiefs finally became an NJSIAA North I Group II contender.

"His freshman year, we had 1,700 total yards of offense and he had 1,500 of them," Reduzzi said. "We weren't any good his first two years, so you have to give him a lot of credit because his first 2,700 yards were all him. His last two years he was surrounded by good players that helped make it happen."

Despite his ostentatious statistics, Martinek wasn't even among New Jersey's top 30 recruits in Rivals.com 2007 rnkings.

"When he ran combines people checked watches," Reduzzi said. "His running style never really looked like he was at a fll sprint. He'd put a 4.43 out and people were checking their watches instead of believing what time he put up."

Nothing bothered Reduzzi more than the question of Martinek athleticism, especially considering his star player's abilityto shine in track and field as well.

"Just what he's done in other sports," Reduzzi said, "the strength that it takes to throw a javelin 225 feet, his ability to excel in the number of (track) events, that all leads to what makes him a good running back. Because it's endurance, it's athletic ability, it's strength, and he has all of that."

Martinek was the state's best javelin thrower for much of his senior year, earning a silver medal at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions before winning a national title shortly after graduation.

"I've been coaching 28 years and I've coached some great performers, but I would say Joe Martinek is without a doubt theoverall greatest track athlete that I've coached and I'd venture to say Sussex County track-wise," Juskus said. "This is a id who set 30-year county records in the long jump, high jump, the triple jump, and he currently
holds the New Jersey freshman record in the javelin. Really, anything he did, he was just amazing at it."

In addition to medaling in the high jump, shot put and sprint events during his Hopatcong days, Martinek has competed in the triple jump and long jump in various national events and he says "competing in a decathlon" after his football career ends is "definitely a dream."

"Joe has the speed and he has the athletic ability in the field events, which is key," Hopatcong's track and field coach offered. "The only thing he'd have to muster up is the hurdles. But hey, who knows what the limit is on Joe. I'd love to see him throw the javelin but he just can't seem to get away from the football field for more than 10 minutes."

Ask Schiano the greatest attribute in a running back and the Rutgers coach insists it's vision. Martinek's ability to see where and how the holes develop is one of his strengths, Schiano says.

Credit the 990 carries he totaled in four years at Hopatcong for that.

"I think his experience probably has something to do with it," Schiano said of Martinek, who's averaging 5.1 yards on 197 carries in his two years at Rutgers. "We're all better the more times we do something."

Yet, in the same breath, Schiano said Martinek's talents shouldn't go unnoticed, either.

"I think the No. 1 reason for (his success) is his abilities," Schiano said. "He's an incredibly blessed guy athletically."