NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Joe Martin, OLB, Idaho State

  • Name: Joe Martin
  •    Height: 6’0
  •    Weight: 205
  •    Position: OLB
  •    College: Idaho State 

Tell us about your hometown, and what you love most about it?
  •     Spanaway, Washington. I love how small it is but at the same time close to bigger cities such as Tacoma and Seattle. 

List these three in order of importance and why: Film Study, Strength and Conditioning and Practice?
  •    1- Film study, because if you know your opponent well you can be comfortable in the game and fly around to make plays. 
2- Strength and Conditioning, because if you aren’t strong and and shape you can get hurt easier and also not preform how you might be capable. 
3- Practice, because you have to practice how you’re going to play in the game and this is where you can put 1 & 2 together to become your best.

What do you worry about, and why?
  •     Not being given a chance because I wasn’t at a big successful school. 

Give me an example of when you failed at something. How did you react and how did you overcome failure?
  •   I failed my ACT test to get into Idaho State twice.. but I knew that one of my biggest goals in life at the moment was to play division 1 football so I was will to study ever harder and take the test as many times as I had to to get in. I passed the third time by more than enough points and was beyond excited.

What do your teammates say is your best quality?
  •     How hard I work. Ask any guy or coach on my team and they will tell you I am the hardest worker we had on the squad. 

Who is the best player you have ever played against in college?
  •    Cooper Kupp. 

What would your career be if you couldn’t play football? 
  •    I would be a trainer or coach for younger kids to help them reach their dreams. 

Room, desk, and car – which do you clean first?
  •     1-Room, because I am in it the most.
2- Car, because I am in the a lot.
3- Desk, because it’s smallest and not hard to keep clean.

If there was a disaster and you could either save three strangers or one family member, which would you choose and why?
  •     Family, I would do anything for my family that’s an easy call. And I would not blame a stranger for saving their family over mine.

If you could be any television or movie character, who would you be and why?
  •     I would want to be Gerard Butler in Olympus Has Fallen. He is a total badass and a hero. I love heroes. 

Tell me about your biggest adversity in life and how you’ve dealt with or overcome it?
  •     This Has to be when I tore my ACL game 7 of my redshirt junior year. I remember calling my dad crying thinking my career was over knowing all I that I ever wanted to do was get a shot at the NFL. He told me right then and there that I could not go back and not tear it. So it was going to be all about how I chose to recover. From there I hit physical therapy extremely hard and got to play every game my senior year. And now I feel even healthier than I was before I hurt my knee. Physical therapy helped me not only with my knee but every aspect of my game. People thought I worked hard before the injury, but after I took it up a notch ever higher to a level I didn’t even think I had in me. 

What is your most embarrassing moment?
  •     I was playing baseball for my seventh grade select team and I was on second base. I was so hydrated that out of nowhere I had to use the restroom. I kept trying to tell my coach and the umpire but they weren’t listening to me. I eventually couldn’t hold it any longer and just Peed my pants. I made it all the way to home a couple pitches after and the coach had a spare pair of pants in his truck that I could change into. Not many people know that story.

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?
  •     When I got an interception against the University of Nevada Reno. I will never forget it because we won that game by two points. That was the only FBS school we had beat since I was at Idaho State. 

What song best describes your work ethic?
  •     Worlds Greatest- R. Kelly. ( before he got in trouble… haha)

What is the most important trait you can have (Physical or Non-Physical) to help you succeed at the next level? 
  •     My leadership. I have always been a natural leader since I was younger people just tend to follow me. And I want to use that for good.

If you could bring one person back from the dead for one day, who would it be and why?
  •     My cousin Martin Dennis. He passed away very suddenly and I didn’t get a chance to see him as often as I would have liked because he lived out of state. But him and his younger brother were ballers too and I got some of my work ethic from them.

If you were to open a dance club, what would you name it? 
  •     Jumpin Joe’s 

Who is the most overrated player in the NFL? 
  •     I would have to say Sean Alexander. I grew up in Washington so I love the Seahawks. Are used to like the guy a lot until I really saw how his running style was. He would always run out of bounds to save his body instead of try to get a couple extra yards, pretty soft.

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?
  •     Respected, you don’t gotta like me but I’m going to make you respect me by how I play. If you like me that’s just a benefit.

What player who had his career derailed by off-field issues do you feel for the most and why?
  •     Ricky Williams. I say this because I grew up playing NFL street and watching him play on TV and he was just super good to me because I was playing running back at the time. So to see him stop early because of some weed, that was just sad.

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?
  •     There is no better feeling than working all week with your team and then putting it together Saturday (hopefully sundays now..) to get that win. It is a high you cannot replicate. But no one likes losing unless you’re a loser..

Who has been the biggest influence on your life and explain why?
  •    My dad. He has been there since day one, literally. He has passed down all his knowledge to me from playing at Washington State and a little bit in Canada. Not only on the football side of things though, he has taught me how to become a great man as well.