The Oklahoman's Super 30: Red Martel taking his turn as inspirational leader for Beggs
Throughout junior high and the early years of high school, Beggs football player Red Martel saw inspiration all around him.
It began with his older brother, Joe Martell III, who became a national story as the Demons' defensive end, said to be the first double-amputee to play high school football in Oklahoma.
After Joe graduated and Red entered high school, the younger Martel found himself watching and learning from former Beggs standout running back CJ Brown.
Soaking in what he could gather from those ahead of him, Red Martel has stepped into the leadership role now. He’s the one inspiring young Beggs players. The one showing them what’s possible with commitment and work ethic.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back committed to Kansas last November and comes in at No. 15 on The Oklahoman’s Super 30 recruit rankings for the class of 2024. And the importance of his role as a face of Beggs football is not lost on him, thanks to the gravity of what he witnessed from his brother and Brown.
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“It meant a lot to see what my brother did,” Red told The Oklahoman. “He was an inspiration to a lot of people, including myself, to be able to go out there and do the things he did, not having two legs or as many fingers as everybody else. It meant a lot to everybody that he played with.
“When I came up as a freshman, I had to be scout running back against the older group. When I got hit, I would get frustrated and the older guys would talk trash, but CJ was always beside me, keeping me up. CJ’s a great athlete and he never slacked off, so to have somebody like that to learn from and look up to was a blessing.”
Brown eventually signed with Oklahoma State and last fall, the door opened for Martel, who exploded onto the scene with 1,905 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns, plus another 311 receiving yards and four scores. He also intercepted four passes as a defensive back.
Even as a freshman and sophomore, while backing up Brown, Martel got enough opportunities to pile up more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage in his first two seasons — for a total of 4,371 yards on 435 career touches, or an average of more than 10 yards every time he got the ball.
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“He’s basically a 4.0 student, he’s a good kid with a good, solid mom and dad who stay on top of him,” Beggs coach David Tenison said. “On the field, the thing Red brings to the table is his size and explosion. You don’t see a lot of guys who are as explosive as he is and as fast as he is at 195 pounds.
“He works on building his speed and strength every day. He’s all in. And he’s got great vision. His hips and his vision is like the little, skinny, fast guys, but he has the power to run between the tackles, and I think that’s what separates Red from a lot of other guys.”
Red — which is a nickname given to him by his grandmother because of his bright skin tone at birth — also had offers from Colorado and Stanford before deciding on the Jayhawks last fall. Proximity, plus the hometown feel in Lawrence, helped influence his decision to commit to a Kansas program that is on the rise.
But first, Martel has a senior season at Beggs, set on pursuing a state championship, while also taking his turn as the role model and inspiration for future Demons, fulfilling the duties of those he watched when he was younger.
“Being a kid and looking up to all the older players like the ones I looked up to, it’s important to me to know I’m in their shoes now,” Martel said. “There’s a lot of kids looking up to us now, so we’re trying to be a good example for the young’ins, showing others how to be good leaders, good teammates. Just show them what it takes.”
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The Oklahoman’s 2024 Super 30
Name: Red Martel
School: Beggs
Super 30 ranking: No. 15
Ht.: 5-foot-11 | Wt.: 195 pounds
Position: Running back
Committed to: Kansas
About the series
The Oklahoman’s Super 30 feature series will spotlight each high school football player on the Super 30 recruit rankings for the 2024 class. The series continued Tuesday with No. 15, Red Martel of Beggs. See No. 14 on the list on Wednesday. Here are the last five players featured.
No. 19: Josh Aisosa, OL, Edmond Santa Fe
No. 18: LaDainian Fields, WR/DB, Del City
No. 17: Dax Collins, DB, Poteau
No. 16: Elijah Green, WR/DB, Classen SAS
No. 15: Red Martel, RB, Beggs
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma HS football: Red Martel, Beggs recruiting profile
