Tyler Martinez adds to family’s athletic greatness

New Mexico State linebacker Tyler Martinez didn’t need to search very far to see greatness from a very early age. His older sister Brianna Martinez is one of the best soccer players to ever come out of their native New Mexico.

Brianna Martinez, who is four years older than Tyler, was on the U.S. national youth soccer program’s radar since she was 13 years old. Todd and Cathy Martinez were almost always dragging their young son Tyler to Brianna’s soccer tournaments around the country. 

As Brianna enrolled at Notre Dame to begin her distinguished college career, Tyler Martinez diligently worked toward a Division I football scholarship. 

“I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to grow up around some really special people,” he says, “starting with my sister. … Since a little age she showed me what it was like to compete. Just being a little brother, I always wanted to be better than her or compete with her. 

“She was always just pushing me to go hard and stuff like that. My parents are also super hard-working people. They both work full-time jobs and bust their butts to put food on the table for our family.”

JUCO route for Tyler Martinez

Brianna Martinez, who plays for the Orlando Pride of the NWSL, was recruited by many of the best women’s college soccer programs in America. She was a two-year captain at Notre Dame.

Tyler Martinez, however, struggled to garner much attention from Division I programs. Despite making 145 tackles, 25 tackles for a loss and six sacks as a senior at Volcano Vista High in Albuquerque, N.M., no program offered him anything more than a preferred walk-on position. 

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“In my head I was thinking I did enough and I should be to the point where I get that Division I scholarship,” Tyler Martinez says. “I just didn’t get anything. … Nobody took a chance on me or was willing to give me a scholarship. I chose to bet on myself and go the hard route, which was the New Mexico Military Institute.”

Martinez blossomed in junior college. He eventually got his scholarship offer from New Mexico State. Now he’s a finalist for Our Esquina’s Latino College Football Player of the Year Award.

Second Team All-Conference USA

He finished his redshirt junior year with 96 tackles (47 solo) and a sack in 2024 for the Aggies. The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder was a Second Team All-Conference USA selection.

When thinking of the best Latinos in college football in 2024, there are many. Iowa’s Sebastian Castro, the 2023 Latino Player of the Year, had another stellar year leading the Hawkeyes’ defense. He is considered one of the best safeties heading into the 2025 NFL draft.

Xavier Restrepo rewrote the receiving record books at the University of Miami. Syracuse’s Trebor Peña was one of the best receivers in the ACC. Cal’s Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia and App State’s Joey Aguilar delivered some of the biggest quarterback performances in the country this year. 

All of those players embody the best of college football. Their stories are emblematic of the Latino spirit, of working hard to overcome in a country that still takes us for granted at times.

Martinez, his former New Mexico State teammate Pavia and App State’s Aguilar where JUCO products. They worked extra to receive the attention they deserved.

“He was definitely overlooked,” Todd Martinez says of his son Tyler. “I would say persistence and hard work, when he wasn’t really being recruited in high school he knew he wasn’t getting what he deserved. 

“What I told both of my kids was to control what you can control. And that’s how hard you work and your attitude. And mainly because those are under your control. He just kept working and working. His senior season he had a monster year.”

Overlooked no more

Martinez credits Pavia with teaching him how to be a leader. Like Pavia in 2023 against Auburn with New Mexico State and then in 2024 against Alabama and Auburn with Vanderbilt, Martinez showed he can compete against the best. 

Martinez had nine solo tackles against the SEC’s Texas A&M. He also had a season-high 12 tackles against heated rival New Mexico and Louisiana Tech. 

“Diego Pavia showed me his senior year what kind of leadership you need to have, what kind of attitude you need to have going into not just games but in practice and training,” Tyler Martinez says. “He really showed that it takes a lot more to be great.”

Tyler Martinez vows to continue to work and chase the greatness he has seen all his life at home.