Bored? Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez creates an iPhone app during offseason
Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Taylor Martinez (3) tries to break free from Penn State Nittany Lions defenders Gerald Hodges (6) and Michael Mauti (42) at Memorial Stadium in the second half. Nebraska won 32-23. (Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports)
It’s no secret that there isn’t exactly as much to do in Lincoln, Nebraska than there is to do in, say, South Beach or New York. That holds especially true for Taylor Martinez. The star Nebraska quarterback is too focused on succeeding as a senior to go out and partake in the extracurricular activities so many college students do on a nightly basis.
So, what is there for a dual-threat record-holder to do an average Tuesday night in a relatively small town?
“I like to work out puzzles in my head,” Martinez told Jeremy Fowler of CBS Sports. “There’s not much to do in Nebraska, so you just start thinking of ways to make money.”
Obviously, Martinez cannot make any money in his chosen passion of football at the moment, no matter how much time he spends on it. Thus, he has put his hyper-analytical brain to work on new technologies.
The Nebraska signal-caller develops his own iPhone apps.
His latest app is called Follow the Pattern, and, basically, it is a board game that can be played by friends on different phones. Think old-school Simon Says meets new-school communications, and there you go. Here are some screen shots of what the game looks like:
Of course, Martinez has far bigger fish to fry than simply getting folks to download apps for 99 cents apiece (he has since made it a free download while he works to improve it).
His Cornhuskers opened the year on fire, but ended it by getting stomped by Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game and then Georgia in the Capital One Bowl.
“We start off really strong, but in the end we can’t finish off a championship,” Martinez said. “It’s very disappointing. We’ve gotta be able to finish.”
He will have the rest of his life to engineer computer programs and apps. Technology is always changing and evolving, just like the mind of the analytical Martinez.
However, he will be a senior, and he will never have a chance to win a conference title after this season.
And no matter how much time he spends on apps as a diversion, the only thing that matters is winning that championship.
“Championship, pretty much, or bust — every time,” Martinez said of the Nebraska pressure cooker.
New school or old school, the dream of winning it all never changes.
Not for Martinez, nor anyone else in Big Red Nation.
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