Washington State Football: Davontavean Martin, “Air Raid” Weapon

Washington State football is known for their Air Raid offense. No one has caught more passes this season from quarterback Gardner Minshew than Davontavean Martin

Davontavean (Tay) Martin is the Cougars sensational sophomore wide receiver. He leads Washington State football‘s pass-happy, Air Raid offense with 40 catches for 440 yards (11 yards-per-catch) and six touchdowns. So far, The Cougs have five receivers who have caught at least 20 passes in 2018.

Although Martin is quarterback Gardner Minshew‘s primary wide receiver, head coach Mike Leach likes to rotate them throughout the game, often using eight different receivers. You won’t see many teams going with that type of depth at wideout. Many times WSU lines up with four receivers in a formation.

Martin’s 40 receptions are second in the PAC-12 behind Colorado’s Laviska Shenault Jr., who has 60 catches. His six touchdowns are tied for second with Shenault, and Martin is seventh in the conference with the 440 receiving yards.

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Excellence in 2018

His biggest game so far this season was against Eastern Washington when he had 13 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown, in a 59-24 win. Martin’s second best outing was in the last Washington State game when he had eight receptions for 119 yards and a pair of scores, against Oregon State, in another high-scoring win, 56-37.

This Saturday, the Cougars have a huge game at home, in Martin Stadium, against the Oregon Ducks. It’s important because both teams are second place with 2-1 records in the PAC-12 North Division, where it’s a tight race right now.

Stanford beat Arizona State 20-13 on Thursday night, giving the Cardinal a 3-1 conference record, which temporarily puts them in a tie for first place with the Washington Huskies. The winner between Washington State and Oregon will tie with Stanford at 3-1. Washington plays Colorado today. If UW wins, they will be in first place with 4-1 in conference record. If the Huskies lose they go to 3-2.

It will be key to Washington State’s chance of winning that Martin has another outstanding game against the Ducks, along with Easop Winston, Dezmon Patmon, and the rest of the Cougars receiving corps.