‘Two-headed monster’ Martinez, Fletcher leading Hurricanes’ loaded running back room

Damien Martinez, Mark Fletcher and the rest of the Miami Hurricanes’ running back room understands there’s power in numbers. The more impact players they have at the position, the better the team is going to be in the long run.

While that might mean a sacrifice individual statistics, it will be worth it in their eyes if it gets the Hurricanes to their grander goal of competing for an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff field.

“Just keeping everybody fresh,” Martinez said. “We’ve got a long season, so just continue to feed off each other’s energy and make an impact on the game. I feel like the team’s coming together good. Just getting reps with each other, more practice, and just going out there trying to execute. Whatever team executes the most is going to win. That’s all it’s about.”

The divide-and-conquer method has worked so far.

Martinez, an Oregon State transfer, and Fletcher, a sophomore coming off a Lisfranc injury at the end of the 2023 season, are handling the bulk of the workload. Together, they have combined to take 28 of the Hurricanes’ 59 carries by running backs through Miami’s first two games — a 41-17 road win over the Florida Gators and 56-9 home rout of Florida A&M. Martinez has 26 carries for 156 yards and a touchdown, while Fletcher has 65 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries.

But beyond them, the Hurricanes are confident in their depth at the position. True freshman Jordan Lyle earning instant trust from the coaching staff. Redshirt freshman Chris Johnson is working his way toward a bigger role. And redshirt sophomore Ajay Allen is still in the mix as well after being part of Miami’s four-headed running attack last season.

This creates internal competition and even friendly rivalries inside the team, which the Hurricanes running backs hope benefits all of them in the long run.

“Anybody in this running back room, I believe, can go out there and start,” Fletcher said, “so it definitely keeps you on your toes, keeps you on point, because you don’t want to mess up. That next guy, he could be right there taking place. But we all love each other. We want what’s best for the team. It’s very competitive, and we love it that way.”

Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson credits first-year Miami running back coach Matt Merritt for figuring out how to manage each running back’s reps.

And while the Hurricanes admittedly will likely be more of a pass-oriented team with Cam Ward at quarterback, they are not taking their running backs for granted.

“We’re going to stay balanced,” Dawson said. “That’s who we are. We can run football and we can push people around, so we’re going to ultimately mix in that with attacking in the air. So to me, the beauty of of who we are is we’re balanced. We can beat you either way. So we’ve gotta maintain that course, and that’s my job, to keep it mixed up and to keep people off balance. But we do have a handful of backs that we feel comfortable being in there — really any of them. It’s a talented room. He does a good job of rotating those guys and and those guys do a good job of cheering for each other, which I think is vitally important when you’re in a crowded room.”

Ward, too, understands just how valuable running backs are to his success and the offense as a whole. Miami’s ability to establish the run, especially with bruisers like Martinez (6-0 and 232 pounds) and Fletcher (6-2 and 225 pounds), will keep opposing defenses honest and help open things up in the passing game.

“Having a two-headed monster like that, it’s gonna be good,” Ward said. “It will be punishing for other defenses, just because you have the game plan around legit started running backs. Those guys, they do all the heavy lifting from running to especially pass protection. … They going to continue to be a blessing for us. They’ll continue to make plays for us, and they’re gonna have a lot of big runs throughout the season. I know they’ve got one of the hardest jobs on the team at running back, just because the physical toll that they put on their body week in and week out. I’m just grateful to have them.”