SLIPPERY ROCK — George Mihalik was grinning from ear to ear as he shouted out names.

“Von Miller ... who's that? Terrell Suggs ... who's that?,” the retired Slippery Rock University football coach yelled out, along with a few other distinguished NFL names.

Mihalik was singing the praises of SRU senior defensive Marcus Martin Saturday, a short time after Martin broke college football's all-time career quarterback sack record at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

It was Mihalik who decided the SRU coaches should pay a second visit to Martin's home in West Mifflin five years ago, even though Martin had already verbally committed to another school.

“That turned out to be worth the trip,” Mihalik said. “We talked Marcus into coming up here for a visit. The rest is history.”

Martin made history Saturday against Clarion, recording 4.5 sacks — reaching 54 for his career and breaking the previous college football mark of 53.5, set by Waynesburg's Mike Czerwein in 2007.

Suggs, the Baltimore Raven great, had 44 sacks in his career at Arizona State.

Martin broke the Division II record earlier this season, but did not record a sack the past three weeks against Edinboro, Indiana (Pa.) or Mercyhurst.

“I wasn't worried about it,” Martin said of his three-game drought. “I was still making plays, still playing well. If I start thinking about that record when I'm on the field, it's only going to mess me up. I would have started pressing.”

Off the field, the 6-foot-2, 255-pound Martin has been thinking about the record plenty.

Now that he has it, he knows where he wants to put it.

“As far out of reach as I can,” he said, smiling. “I'm hoping to hold that record for a lot of years.”

Martin would have started as a true freshman for SRU in 2013, but some of his high school credits didn't transfer over and he wasn't academically eligible that season.

“He was crushed and so was I,” Mihalik said. “But I told him at the time that five years from now, he was going to be happy he came here.

“We knew he'd be an all-conference guy. We knew he'd be a four-year starter and an impact guy. But nobody could have foreseen something like this.”

Martin has the chance to become the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's first football player to win four consecutive major conference awards. He was PSAC West Rookie of the Year in 2014 and Defensive Player of the Year the past two seasons.

With 72 tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks so far this season, Martin is closing in on the latter award again.

“I don't know what more you can say about the guy,” said SRU head coach Shawn Lutz, who was Martin's defensive coordinator his first two years. “He never stops. He's always motivated.

“To break this record on Senior Day with such a dominant performance is simply who he is.”

Academically, Martin has been a cut above as well. He is a two-time Academic All-American and carries a grade point average above 3.5 as a safety management major, minoring in business administration.

He will likely become only the eighth football player in league history to be named first team All-PSAC in each of his four collegiate seasons.

Martin is doing all of this as The Rock's only returning starter on defense. Nine of the other 10 starters on that unit never played a down of college football before this year.

“He represents the standard to everybody else,” defensive coordinator Dom Razzano said. “Marcus is a leader not by lip service, but by his actions. He runs to the ball. He never gives up on a play.

“Good things happen to good people. He's earned every bit of it.”

Martin faces double-teams virtually every Saturday.

“Our (defensive) scheme shifts me around a lot, tries to set me up where I am one-on-one with somebody,” Martin said.

When he is, the play usually results in him taking a straight line to the quarterback.

Martin already has 90.5 career tackles for loss to go with his 54 career sacks. No other Division II player in history has more than 77 TFL's or 46.5 sacks.

“To be around somebody who gives effort like that ... He's like a role model to me,” freshman linebacker Trysten McDonald said of Martin. “Just being out there on the field with him is amazing.

“What he's done in this program is incredible. It leaves me speechless.”

Lutz appreciates where Marcus Martin stands in Slippery Rock history.

“Once in a lifetime,” the coach said. “We won't see another one like him.”