WATCH: Martin Emerson Jr snatches interception, returns it for preseason touchdown
Former Mississippi State star corner Martin Emerson, Jr. has been impressing early on in Cleveland Browns’ training camp this fall. Friday night in the Browns’ first preseason matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he made one of the best plays of the weekend. Emerson muscled the football away from Jags’ receiver Jeff Cotton, stiff-armed a defender, and took it to the house 75-yards for the touchdown.
Check it out.
The Browns drafted Emerson in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, selecting him with the No. 68 overall selection. It hasn’t taken him long to make an instant impact with his new team.
During his time with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, he established himself among the nation’s elite cornerbacks. PFF gave him an 89.6 coverage grade, which was the highest by an SEC corner since 2020. Emerson earned third-team All-SEC honors from PFF for the 2021 season, after he racked up 50 tackles, three tackles for loss, and three pass breakups.
In the 2020 season, the 6-foot-2 corner started all 11 games for the Bulldogs and he earned a 82.9 coverage grade from PFF, grading him as the No. 7 cornerback in the FBS and the third best in the SEC. Emerson forced 11 incompletions, ranking him 11th in the country among Power Five corners, per PFF. His stats that season were good enough to earn him honorable mention All-American honors from PFF.
In 2019, he immediately shined his first season on campus, becoming the first Bulldog true freshman to snatch an interception since Johnthan Banks in 2009. Emerson made an appearance in 13 games his freshman year, starting five of them. PFF named him an honorable mention freshman All-American.
Emerson played his high school football at Pine Forest (Pensacola, Florida), where he racked up 149 tackles, eight pass breakups, one forced fumble, and one interception during his final two seasons there. According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2019 cycle, Emerson was rated as a three-star prospect and the No. 77 cornerback in America. He chose Mississippi State over the Oregon Ducks.