Blake Baker was helping entertain boosters in a club at Faurot Field several days before the start of fall camp.

Around 9:30 p.m., Missouri’s defensive coordinator realized a player was in the facility, grabbing his cleats. 

As he looked out into the night, Baker wondered what was going on. 

“Who is that?” Baker recalled asking. 

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The answer was Martez Manuel, there to get some extra work in. The senior safety was raring to go as his final year as a Tiger approached. 

It’s been a long offseason for Manuel, who ended last year with an ankle injury that kept him out of the Armed Forces Bowl. After that healed, he hurt his elbow. 

That one forced him to miss spring practice. Now, he’s finally back.

Barring wild circumstances, it will be the native Columbian’s final time playing football in his hometown. He’s made it clear that a spot in the NFL is his goal. 

Manuel played his high school football at Rock Bridge after coming out of Smithton Middle School. He and his Rock Bridge teammates, which included current Missouri running back Nathaniel Peat, led the Bruins to a district championship game, where they lost to Blue Springs.

He also helped Rock Bridge finish in the top five at Missouri’s state track meet. Coming out of high school, he was a three-star football prospect and decided to stay home and join the Tigers under former head coach Barry Odom. 

From the beginning, he saw himself as playing for the entire town. 

“I want people to see me now kind of doing it,” Manuel said. “I want to leave a good name and image of the city and my school, my high school and middle school and just inspire the kids that are in this town and show them that it doesn’t matter if you’re from Texas or whatever, you can do things you’ll accomplish if you work hard.” 

Manuel got on the field as a freshman, playing in all 12 games. He even got in one start.

He was by no means a superstar from the beginning, making four tackles in that first season. However, he showed promise. 

The young defensive back was demonstrating leadership qualities well beyond his years from the get-go. 

"When we were young, Martez wasn’t afraid to speak up in team meetings and voice what we needed to do,” said Missouri defensive end Isaiah McGuire, who roomed with Manuel in those early days. “As a freshman, going into sophomore year, you don’t usually see that very often.” 

He also demonstrated loyalty during the offseason after Odom was let go. Manuel opted to stay with his hometown Tigers instead of trying to find another place to play. 

His sophomore year was impacted in a major way by the pandemic. Missouri played 10 games, all of them against SEC opponents. 

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The Tigers finished 5-5 and were about to play Iowa in the Music City Bowl before being forced to withdraw due to a COVID-19 outbreak. After the season came another coaching change for the defense, with Steve Wilks replacing Ryan Walters as defensive coordinator. 

As a junior, Manuel was back in the starting lineup. He was a tackling machine from his safety spot, finishing third on the team with 77. 

He also had an interception, four sacks, eight tackles for loss and forced fumble. Beyond that, he helped lead, as the defense transformed from one of the league’s worst through the first eight games to a drastically improved unit in the final five. 

Still, Missouri finished .500 in the regular season before dropping the Armed Forces Bowl. Manuel missed that game with an injury. 

Still, he wasn’t satisfied with the season. 

"Every single year I’ve been here, we’ve literally been .500,” Manuel said. “That can be very frustrating. I feel like the biggest thing we have to figure out is just, what’s that thing that takes us over the edge? 

“This is our last year to figure it out with the guys in this room.” 

It’s now Manuel’s last chance to help the Tigers prove something. The program has been mired in mediocrity for years now, through both Odom and Drinkwitz’s tenures as head coach. 

Drinkwitz has recruited at a higher level than any other time in Missouri history. He has said this year’s team is his deepest and most talented. 

Unfortunately, seniors like Manuel don’t have time to wait on young four- and five-star prospects to develop. If they’re going to have a breakout year with the Tigers, it has to be this one. 

The urgency of the situation isn’t lost on Manuel as he settles into yet another new coach’s scheme, this one Blake Baker’s, which will utilize three safeties. 

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“Probably the most frustrating part about being here for these three years is that we haven’t had that success that we all work for and we all want,” Manuel said. “I’m going to continue to just be an open book and wherever they need me to play, I don’t care if it’s receiver, I’m going to do it because I want to win.” 

He was a captain last year, becoming the first Columbia product to take that role for the Tigers since quarterback Corby Jones did it in the 1990s after graduating from Hickman. Manuel figures to be back as a captain this year, and knows his role as a leader. 

As the kind of player who shows up at the stadium alone on a Friday night to get extra work in, the captaincy has forced Manuel to evolve. 

“I’ve really had to step up and include people,” he said. “That's something that I’m still struggling with and have to struggle with, because I’m kind of a person who likes to do stuff on my own sometimes.”  

By all accounts, Manuel is doing just fine on that front. Drinkwitz praised him to local reporters at SEC Media Days, saying he does a wonderful job as a “representative of our community and our university.” 

Manuel even helped the Tigers bring in help on offense. Over the offseason, Peat decided to leave Stanford and enter the transfer portal, which led to Manuel calling his old Rock Bridge friend and convincing him to join up with Missouri. 

Despite missing spring practice, Manuel was always there, helping where he could. With a defense changing schemes again, he has been invaluable to the unit building chemistry, even from afar. 

According to one of his fellow seniors, linebacker Chad Bailey, Manuel’s guidance doesn’t go unnoticed. 

“He’s always going to be involved,” Bailey said. “Not matter if he’s hurting. So he’s been leading even when he was on the sideline.” 

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Whether or not the Tigers improve out of the .500 slump remains to be seen. It won’t be easy, with bookmakers setting the over-under for Missouri’s wins at 5 1/2 before the season. 

It’s not that MU isn’t improved. With the incoming freshman and transfer portal additions, the Tigers are better on paper. 

But still, they play in the SEC. The East division isn’t what it was when Missouri won it in 2013 and 2014, with Georgia now coming off of a national championship and Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina all entering 2022 with increased expectations. 

Still, Manuel is determined to help make a better season happen. The secondary has talent, with Ennis Rakestraw returning from injury, plus Kris Abrams-Draine and JC Carlies returning. 

Baker thought back to the Friday night he saw Manuel working alone. In that moment, he knew what the senior was about. 

“He didn’t think or know we were going to be up there,” Baker said. “It wasn’t like a set-up deal. He was doing that on his own, and that speaks volumes.”