Frank Martin is a senior here at the University of Georgia. He was just elected to be on homecoming court for the homecoming game against Vanderbilt. Frank has an office in Butts-Mehre where he spends his time working on the “Georgia Hype” videos and coaching videos. Frank is at every home game and practice, and he travels with the team for every away game. His job is so fascinating and something I’d really like to be involved with if I go to Georgia.

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP AND GO TO HIGH SCHOOL, JUST TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF?

MARTIN: “I am from Tucker, Georgia. I went to St. Pius in Atlanta. I grew up a Georgia fan. Both of my parents went here. My mom was a Grady journalism major, and my dad majored in English then went into law school, so my dad was a Double-Dawg. My parents got married their junior year of college here at UGA. We have a little farm that’s in Danielsville, Georgia. My dad took me there and we watched the games. Most times we’d come to Athens before the games and eat downtown. Just like you Hamilton, I grew up coming to Athens, watching football on Saturdays with my dad, and being a dawg!”

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START IN FILM, AND WHAT ARE YOU MAJORING IN?

MARTIN: “I actually used to play football believe it or not. Hamilton, I was so bad, but I love the sport, and I love sports in general, obviously. My freshman year of high school I knew I wasn’t very good, and I wasn’t loving playing football like I used to. One day I tore my MCL, which isn’t an incredibly awful injury, but I took it as a sign that I needed to move on from football, and find something else. At St. Pius there was program that assigned a freshman to shadow a senior football player and walk through a Friday night with the player.

“I sat in the locker room with one of the seniors, whose name I can’t remember, and we watched a pregame video right before they went on the field. I was like WOW I’d really like to do that! Luckily, our trainer Gary Schmidt (Schmidty) came to me and asked if I wanted to help out the team since he thought I couldn’t help on the field. I said I’d really like to make the videos. I grabbed my buddies Grayson Holly and Aneek James. Aneek actually came later. We pulled him aside for a project and we really liked his voice, so we asked him to join us for the football videos, and I still use him today as the narrator for all of my videos here at Georgia. I got to Georgia, and I’m an entertainment media studies major, which is just like video stuff, and it is kind of what I’m doing now with football

WILL YOU TELL ME SOME THINGS ABOUT THE GEORGIA HYPE VIDEOS, AND HOW THEY GOT STARTED?

MARTIN: “At St. Pius we had some pretty good players, and some of them were looking at division one colleges. When I approached Schmidty, who had been in touch with a lot of these colleges, I told him I wanted to keep doing video stuff in college, so he let me tour those big schools with the players. I toured Alabama, Florida State, and Georgia. Georgia, of course, was right at the top of that list. We toured Butts-Mehre… I loved the place. I actually ended up meeting my bosses, who I didn’t know were my bosses at the time, Brett Greene and Clark Williams. I knew this was where I wanted to be. I went in there and showed them the videos I made that Schmidty had sent them. At that time a lot of colleges were doing the videos, but they hadn’t really taken off. They were looking to bring someone in who was in-house to do them, and also help with coach’s videos, which is like practice film. I applied early decision to Georgia, and I was deferred so I was so nervous, but I ended up getting in. Then I was able to go to work, and as soon as summer came around, I was a at Georgia. There is another company that we partner with called IMG. They’re a great company. They handle all of the sports, and they did a ton of football stuff before I got here. It would be taking a lot of credit saying I got the Georgia hype videos where they are today, but I guess you could say I’m the first in-house guy to put out these videos. I’m directly under football.”

“I answer to my bosses, Greg McGarity, Coach Smart, and Coach Richt before him. Clark and Brett put out videos every once and awhile. They knew with social media getting bigger and bigger it would be necessary to bring someone in to kind of start the video aspect of it. We didn’t really have a position like mine before I came. They were needing more content, and I was able to step in there and help them out.”

SINCE YOU’RE A SENIOR, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF THE GEORGIA HYPE VIDEOS LOOK LIKE ONCE YOU ARE GONE?

MARTIN: “This past summer we actually hired a full-time guy. He had worked with us once before, and now he is back full-time. I am the guy who does the videos normally before the home games to get everyone excited, but we release the real videos after every win, and another guy named Eric Black runs those. He also handles the Instagram videos, and he has been such a great pickup for the UGA video department. He is so immensely talented! We’ve also got Neil Peterson. He is a sophomore this year, and we brought him in about midway through last season. He and I have  been working together, and from what I’ve been told, he will fill in for me once I’m gone next year. It’s really cool, yet it’s really sad because I’ve been working in football now for eight years doing this kind of video work, but they don’t need me here anymore. They’re all amazingly talented, so I’m leaving on a good note because I know everything is in great hands.”

WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO AFTER YOU GRADUATE?

MARTIN: “Oh man, scary question! I’m hopeful that I’m able to continue in the video world because that’s what I’ve been doing for years and it’s my major. I don’t know that where I go will have anything to do with football or even sports. I am hopeful that wherever I end up I will be able to continue doing this work. I love it! It is so fun! It is a lot of work, and it can be very challenging at times, but I’m just hopeful that wherever I’m going to be, and I don’t officially know yet, I’ll know more by the end of the football season, is as special as Georgia!”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE SMART ERA?

MARTIN: “The new era of Kirby Smart. Well, he’s an incredible coach! I just have so many good things to say about him that have really impressed me this year. I think that the passion and energy that he has brought to the program is really essential.”

“I told people this back in July, and I still believe it now, that we are in good hands. The coaching staff that he has put together is one I can really trust. I just know good things are coming this way. I think he is an incredible coach, and more importantly, he is a wonderful mentor for our players. His attitude and the way he goes for things each and every day is awesome. I mean the guy doesn’t sit down! I don’t know how he gets through a day. He’s running around doing something all the time. He is very active and involved, and those are all wonderful things to be. I know he’s under immense pressure, but he’s brought some really wonderful things to this school! I’m just excited. I’ve loved being a part of it. It’s been a real exciting adventure in my last year at Georgia being the first year of Kirby Smart!”

Wow! Wow is all I can say about this guy! I could’ve stayed on the phone with Frank for days. Frank is one of the most humble guys I’ve ever met. The things he says in this article don’t even cover half of what he does for Georgia. If you haven’t seen one of the hype videos he’s made, they will give you chills even if you’re a Tech fan! If I could I would take up the whole magazine writing about Frank Martin. His job is so intriguing, and like I said earlier it’s something I’d like to do. Frank Martin makes me want to be Frank Martin!