OXFORD — David McComb waited nearly two years to play another meaningful football game.
His return won’t exactly come under quiet circumstances.
McComb will make his first college start — and take his first college snap — when Miami opens the season Saturday against Pitt at Acrisure Stadium.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound redshirt freshman transferred to Miami after spending last season at Kansas without appearing in a game. His last competitive action came at Memorial High School in Edmond, Oklahoma, where he finished as the program’s career leader in passing yards, touchdown passes and attempts.
Now he gets Pitt.
“First start. First snap,” Martin said.
McComb entered preseason camp competing with redshirt sophomore Thomas Gotkowski for Miami’s starting job, but the competition ended when Gotkowski suffered a season-ending injury.
Gotkowski had started Miami’s final three games last season and provided reason for optimism heading into 2026. He threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start against Ball State after coming off the bench to help Miami beat Buffalo the previous week.
Miami announced Aug. 22 that Gotkowski would miss the season. McComb moved into the No. 1 spot, with senior Caleb Heavner elevated to backup quarterback and freshman Drew Bellisari third on the depth chart.
The injury took away one of Miami’s most experienced options at the most important position.
It also made McComb’s development even more critical.
“He’s done a great job with Coach Ragland, and he’s worked his tail off,” Martin said. “He was in there watching tape with the offensive staff as I left to come down here.”
McComb’s preparation isn’t Martin’s concern.
Managing the moment might be.
McComb is intelligent enough to absorb a significant portion of Miami’s offense, Martin said, but there is a difference between understanding a play on a whiteboard and executing it with Pitt defenders bearing down on you.
“Mentally, he understands all of it,” Martin said. “You could put a lot on his plate. But that’s just because I know he’s smart and I know he understands it. Then I’ve got to factor in this is the kid’s first college game, and it is Pitt.”
McComb hasn’t played in a game since his senior season of high school ended in the Oklahoma state semifinals nearly 21 months ago. During Miami’s preseason scrimmage, he said simply getting the feeling of competition back was valuable.
Martin wants to avoid asking him to win Saturday’s game by himself.
“Just give him a chance to compete and play and learn and fight and make some plays,” Martin said, “and flush the bad ones in a hurry and keep moving on.”
The RedHawks hope a deep backfield can help.
Martin said Miami feels it has four running backs capable of contributing — D’Shawntae Jones, Wisconsin transfer Cade Yacamelli, Monmouth transfer Rodney Nelson and Northern Illinois transfer Lazaro Rogers.
Jones provides the most experience in Miami’s offense after rushing 63 times for 277 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games last season.
Yacamelli brings Big Ten experience after appearing in 32 games at Wisconsin, where he rushed 107 times for 571 yards. The Pennsylvania native will return to familiar territory Saturday after starring at Penn-Trafford High School, where he helped lead the program to its first state championship in 2021.
“We feel like we’ve got four really good backs right now,” Martin said. “We feel like we’ve got great versatility.”
There are different body types and styles.
Jones is listed at 5-10, 225 pounds. Yacamelli is 6-0, 219. Nelson is 5-8, 179, while Rogers is 5-10, 200.
“We’ve got two bigger backs, one smaller back, one in-between back,” Martin said. “We’ve got guys that can run, catch and block. We’ve got some more quick and elusive runners, more power runners.”
The question extends throughout the offense.
Miami has talent.
What it doesn’t have is much continuity.
Martin has repeatedly described the RedHawks as a work in progress, something likely to be particularly evident Saturday.
“We’re not a consistent football team yet,” Martin said. “We’re getting better, but we’re a work in progress. We’re not going to be anywhere near a finished product.”
Pitt isn’t likely to allow much room for error.
And at the center of Miami’s effort to find that consistency will be a quarterback who has never taken a collegiate snap.
Martin has been through this before. He remembers Brett Gabbert making his first start as a freshman at Iowa in 2019.
Now it is McComb’s turn.
“Let him be a nervous freshman and go play the game,” Martin said, “and see what happens.”
