The 'Moose' has Luck's back, blindside at Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. — Jonathan Martin goes only by "Moose" on this campus. That's the way the big, burly left tackle introduces himself and even some of his Stanford professors refer to him by that moniker.

There might not be a more appropriate nickname in the nation.

Martin protects college football's most insured blindside — Heisman Trophy hopeful and projected No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck — for the sixth-ranked Cardinal, and his label leaves little room for interpretation. Even his parents, part of a long family line of Harvard graduates, have stepped out of the Ivy League mentality and bought into the mystique.

"Every father wants his son to have a nickname like Moose," said Martin's father, Gus, a professor of criminal justice administration at Cal State Dominguez Hills. "It's very, very cool."

The nickname is well earned.

Martin was too big for Pop Warner growing up in the Los Angeles area. So while playing flag football in fifth grade, one of his friends and teammates started calling him Moose for being so physical in a non-contact game.

"I guess I was just mauling people," Martin said. "I got the nickname. It stuck."

The lore has only grown on The Farm.

Although he will likely be a high first-round pick and possibly the first offensive tackle taken in April's draft, chances are NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will only call out Jonathan on stage. After all, Martin hasn't forgotten his roots.

If ever there was somebody destined to land at Harvard, it was Martin. His mother, Jane, a lawyer for Toyota, and both her parents also went to Harvard. In total, Martin would have been the ninth person in his family to attend the prestigious university.

"There was never any family pressure. Just family tradition," Gus said.

The 6-foot-6, 304-pound tackle grew into academics far before athletics. He played chess for hours at home as a kid and his parents read classic literature to him and his older sister, Sarah, who's now in medical school at Pittsburgh.

Martin's verbal skills grew at an early age. Baby talk stayed at a minimum at home and topics at the dinner table stretched into adult discussions.

"He and I had many in-depth conversations for a little kid," Gus said, chuckling. "He wasn't nerdy. He was cool nerdy."