Memphis Tigers linebacker Chandler Martin has been a menace on the football field ever since he joined his youth football team as a 6-year-old.

On his first day of practice, Martin saw the hardest-hitting player on the field and wanted a piece of the action.

“There was this one young man that was just lighting up kids,” Martin’s father, Jeff, recalled. “And after about 10 or 15 minutes, Chandler says, ‘I want to hit him.’ ... From that point on, I said, ‘Yep, I think he might want to play this game.’”

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Chandler was so physical then that when the offensive line struggled, his coach plugged him in at center.

Martin played other sports along the way, including baseball and lacrosse, but football was his bread and butter. He was the leading tackler on every team he played for, and it didn’t matter that he was always a year younger than his teammates.

Martin’s grandmother put him in preschool a year early. Martin also has a December birthday, so he was only 16 when he graduated a semester early from Arabia Mountain High School in Lithonia, Georgia.

Martin, at 208 pounds, didn’t receive his two-star rating until after he committed to East Tennessee State, an FCS program. He spent two seasons at ETSU before transferring to Memphis.

Now 6-foot and 230 pounds, Martin is in his second year with the Tigers and is becoming a legitimate All-America candidate.