An oral history of Memphis basketball star Jeremiah Martin, as told by his coaches

Jeremiah Martin stood inches away from Matthew Murrell's face outside a locker room in Collierville last month, and you could feel the full weight of his legacy.

The Memphis basketball star was giving Murrell, the Whitehaven star, a motivational talk after a particularly painful performance in the region final. Because Martin knew how this felt.

“He has a great amount of compassion because, as he said in the locker room, 'I’ve been there,'" said Whitehaven coach Faragi Phillips, who coached Martin at Mitchell High. "He understands how to adjust to this and how to overcome it."

This vulnerability, and shared history, is why Martin's seeming invincibility over the past month resonated so much throughout the Memphis basketball community.

It's why this week’s American Athletic Conference tournament won’t just be the culmination of a college career and one last chance for Martin to make the NCAA tournament. It will be a chance to appreciate the overlooked recruit from Memphis who went through three college coaches and 44 different college teammates and still became an AAC player of the year candidate.

In an effort to figure out how Martin did it, I tracked down almost every coach he's played for since the seventh grade. Here are scenes from a basketball career that will go down in Memphis history.

Before Memphis (2009-2015)

Marvis Davis, former Southwind Middle School coach: “He was so far advanced from some of the other kids, him being as shifty as he was. It was nothing for him to come out and get 25, 30 points in a middle school game with six-minute running clock.”

Phillips: “He was even skinnier back then, but he was just so tough and just so competitive.”

Davis: “His father’s death (eighth grade) really affected him. He took it hard. I just think basketball was kind of his outlet. He never kind of used that, to get out of practice or anything because I think during that time was when he would come in, it was just his outlet and he was able to come in and play.”

Martin helped Mitchell become the first Memphis-area high school in more than a decade to win back-to-back state championships and finished his high school career with more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.

Norton Hurd IV, Team Thad founder and coach: “I tell people this and they don’t believe me. Jeremiah Martin and (current Tennessee point guard) Jordan Bone came off the bench for me most games. They backed up (former TCU guard) Jaylen Fisher and (former Florida guard) Chris Chiozza. Jeremiah was a very, very productive player. Jaylen was just, at the time, a borderline five-star.”

Former Memphis coach Josh Pastner: “I remember evaluating him, and the kid’s motor and his toughness and his want, you could just tell his internal drive and his desire to want to be great."

Hurd: “The thing about Jeremiah is he has that mentality where he thinks he’s better than he is. He walks in the gym and feels he’s one of the best players and that’s how I think his attitude got him to where he is today. He’s gritty. He’d be like, ‘Coach, I’m better than Jaylen Fisher. I’m going to bust his butt in practice today.’ He was always like that, and I love that about him.”

Phillips: “Coach Pastner and staff was coming to see the Lawson kids win their state championship and we played after them. So while they’re getting dressed and he wanted to greet his players who had just committed and signed, I guess he’s able to catch some of our game. Jeremiah put on an absolute show, but he’d been doing it all year long. And I guess it just caught Josh by the eye, like this kid can play for real, and he talked to someone during the game and on the way home after we won the state championship, he called me and said I want to offer Jeremiah tomorrow.”

University of Memphis (2015-2019)

Martin de-committed from Louisiana Tech on April 7, 2015, and committed to Memphis four days later.He averaged 2.7 points as a freshman under Pastner, emerged as the program’s starting point guard as a sophomore, led the team in scoring as a junior under Tubby Smith and earned first-team All-AAC honors as a senior under Penny Hardaway.

Martin: "I didn’t have the skill set when I was a freshman to do what I can do now."

Pastner: “He was a great on-the-ball defender. He had great lateral quickness. I loved coaching him."

Former Memphis coach Tubby Smith: “He was sort in the shadows of the Lawson boys, but I think it helped him having those players around him. He was so competitive. That’s his best attribute.”

Phillips: "In his first couple of years with Josh and then Tubby … I’d say, ‘Just be patient.’ And then he had to go through coaches and go through coaches, and it kind of messed him up a little bit.”

Smith: “When he developed his outside shot, the sky was the limit after that. He wasn’t able to knock down that three with consistency and then he started doing that. Now, he’s unstoppable.”

Phillips: “He’s unguardable when he’s making shots.”

Smith: "Overcoming the injury (at the end of last season) and having Journee, his baby, born, those things make you look at life a little bit differently, that I have a responsibility bigger than this basketball."

Davis: "I was sitting courtside when Tennessee Tech came to Memphis (for the 2018-19  opener) and Jeremiah comes down and he makes a move and hits a shot, and comes right past me and he’s like, ‘Coach Davis, just like middle school.’ I’ll never forget that moment."

Memphis coach Penny Hardaway: “I know he averaged 19 points a game last year, but when you’re getting 40s in a half, like he can catch fire and catch rhythm like that, that’s amazing. He’s really amazed me this year.”

Hurd: “I always believed in him, but I didn’t think he could be averaging 30 for a month. Nobody can say they knew that was coming.”

Smith: “I knew he was capable of doing it. I love Jeremiah."

Pastner: "To put the numbers he’s putting up — and it’s not like his team is losing, they’re winning — it’s just exceptional.”

Hardaway: “Nobody gave him the chance to be where he is right now. Hometown kid. Didn’t have a big name coming in, but leaving with a bang. You couldn’t have scripted it out any better from his point of view. As a coach, to have him this year, we wouldn’t be where we are right now without him.”

Martin: “I just waited my turn and tried to get better each year being here. And I feel like I did."

You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto