• Photo Showcase: NU football practice, Oct. 4
• Video Below: NU's Carl Pelini speaks to the media, and see Husker practice highlights
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LINCOLN — Maybe it was the Spanish class that did it. Or maybe it was the fans coming up to his girlfriend to share the criticisms of his performance in a 48-17 loss to Wisconsin.
Either way, quarterback Taylor Martinez is ready to answer — and silence — his critics, senior left tackle Yoshi Hardrick said after Tuesday's practice.
"It finally hit him," Hardrick said. "He'd been holding in a lot. He said he couldn't take it anymore. ... It's the first time I've ever seen him, like, mad."
Martinez threw three interceptions Saturday in the loss to the Badgers. All of them resulted in UW touchdown drives. He followed with a terse session with reporters at his Monday press conference.
When asked how he'd react if fans criticized him, Martinez said: "That's fine. You guys rip me anyway, so it really doesn't matter."
The sophomore from Corona, Calif., is even getting heat from classmates.
"Some girl told him: 'Stop throwing interceptions,'" Hardrick said. "It's just too much. He's in a Spanish class and they're talking about interceptions."
Hardrick, who said he texts Martinez daily, added that Martinez's girlfriend fields a lot of criticism, too, when fans and students don't say it to the quarterback himself. Even Husker teammates pull searches off Google and show him slams and criticisms written by others. Martinez declines to read it.
"He told me he's sick of it," Hardrick said. "These next seven games, he just wants the world to get off his back, so he had to do something about it."
Which is?
"He's trying to keep everybody happy, trying to keep everybody upbeat," Hardrick said. "He's not holding his head down. He's trying do the extra things and be a lot better on his passing. He's trying to go through his extra reads."
The team is behind Martinez, Hardrick said.
"Everybody loves Taylor," he said. "He's the leader of the team. He's the quarterback. We turn our back on him — it'd be pretty bad ... we can't let him feel like he's on an island by himself."
Contact the writer:
402-202-9766, sam.mckewon@owh.com
twitter.com/swmckewonOWH
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• Video: NU's Carl Pelini speaks to the media:
• Video: Husker practice highlights (Oct. 4):
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