SLIPPERY ROCK — Extend the trophy case — again.

Slippery Rock University junior defensive end Marcus Martin is now a two-time Super Region One Defensive Player of the Year. He is also two-time PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year.

Add to those accolades Super Region One Rookie of the Year, PSAC West Freshman of the Year, more than 10 All-America honors and a few academic awards, including selection to the Academic All-America first team.

“Marcus is going to leave here as the most decorated player in Slippery Rock University football history,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “When you consider how humble and consistently productive he is, I put him in the same class as Randy McKavish here.

“And that’s saying something.”

McKavish was a four-year starting quarterback at The Rock from 1997-2000, leading SRU to three consecutive NCAA Division II playoff appearances, including the national semifinals.

Martin has a chance to leave a national imprint of his own.

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound end will enter his senior season 6.5 quarterback sacks short of the NCAA Division II record and 13 sacks shy of the all-time college football career mark of 53.5 sacks. The latter record is held by Mike Czerwien of Waynesburg.

The Division I sack record belongs to current Baltimore Raven standout Terrell Suggs, who tallied 44.0 at Arizona State.

“I never paid attention to that stuff until this past season ended,” Martin said. “Now I see it as a chance to leave a legacy.”

Martin has 40.5 sacks and 66 career tackles for loss at The Rock. No other junior at any level of college football has more than 32 sacks.

He needs 12 tackles for loss to break the Division II career record.

Already receiving overtures from the NFL, Martin admitted it was tempting to forego his senior season to take a shot at the pros.

“Any kid who plays football dreams of playing in the NFL,” Martin said. “I’m no exception to that and, yeah, I thought about leaving now.

“There’s always the risk of getting injured if I play another year and I figured I already accomplished what I needed to at this level, so why come back? But I want my degree to fall back on and I want to be a leader here. We have a lot of seniors graduating from this year’s team.

“And there’s that legacy, those records. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about that stuff,” he added.

Martin is carrying a 3.65 grade point average as a safety management major with a minor in business administration.

“People will look at his numbers and say he didn’t have as good a season as he previously did,” Lutz said. “But Marcus is being double-teamed, triple-teamed at times, every game.

“He still finds ways to make plays, to have an impact. This guy never quits trying to make himself better.”

Martin had 18.5 tackles for loss and nine sacks this season. He had 47.5 TFL’s and 31.5 sacks his first two seasons combined.

“The double teams don’t frustrate me as much as when teams come up with a scheme we haven’t seen before,” Martin said. “We can always make adjustments. If teams are putting more than one guy on me, we have other defenders running free.”

This year’s 7-4 record doesn’t sit well with Marttin despite his personal postseason awards.

“Our level of expectation is high at Slippery Rock,” he said. “We expect to do better next year. I expect to do better.”

Martin finished fifth in the voting for the Gene Upshaw Division II Lineman of the Year Award this season. He was the only junior on the national ballot.

SRU graduate and former Rock center Brandon Fusco won the Upshaw Award his senior year, played in national collegiate all-star games and parlayed all of that into an NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings.

“Marcus has to be one of the favorites for the Upshaw Award going into next year,” Lutz said. “NFL teams know about him now.

“As he pursues those college football records, they’re going to learn a lot more about him.”