Adrian Martinez stood on the home sideline with his helmet half-on, chin strap dangling around his eyes and a small smile on his face Saturday evening at Memorial Stadium.
He greeted some teammates and coaches with high-fives, took some words of encouragement from others. To his right, director of player development Ron Brown, a man who’s seen this spectacle many times before, gave a knowing grin and nod toward the freshman experiencing it for the first time.
Martinez at that point had completed literally everything in the run-up to his first collegiate snap, on his team's first offensive series of his first collegiate gameday.