TALLAHASSEE – Martin Somerville comes from a family of scholars.

His mom, Aretha, is a graduate of Hampton University and Texas Southern College of Law. His dad, Martin Sr, is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Maryland. A brother, Malcolm, graduated from Morehouse College. Another brother, Miles, is currently a student at NYU, and his sister, Zoe, is majoring in neuroscience at Ohio State University.

Martin, a transfer from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, is a business major in his first year at Florida State.

In 2025, during his only season at UMass Lowell, Somerville was named as the America East Rookie of the Year, to the America East All-Rookie Team, and as the conference’s Rookie of the Week a record-breaking 11 times. He averaged 13.6 points and shot better than 40 percent from the field and the 3-point line (.405) as a River Hawk before choosing to take his talents to Florida State.

“Academic success has always been important to my mom and dad,” said Somerville. “Success in the classroom is not asked for, it’s demanded in our house. Even today, before my mom asks me how many points I scored or how any assists I had, she first asks if I’ve completed all of my academic assignments. That’s the way it’s always been. It’s just part of who my brothers and sisters are and how we were raised.”

As the youngest of his two brothers and one sister, Somerville has always been academically as well as athletically talented.

While he was introduced to the sport of basketball when he was two, he grew up playing football because of his athleticism.

“I grew up playing football,” said Somerville. “I loved to play quarterback, but I was a pretty good athlete, so I played most of the skill positions on both sides of the ball.”

Once he decided to concentrate on becoming a basketball player, Somerville worked on becoming the best shooter he could be. It’s a skill that has served him well as he led his UMass Lowell team in 3-point field goals made (75), 3-point field goal percentage (.405), and free throws made (95) during his only season at the school located in northeast Massachusetts. The city is about a 35-minute drive from downtown Boston.

He also shot nearly 83 percent from the free throw line as he made 95 of 115 free throw attempts. His ability to get to the basket allowed him to make an average of 3.0 free throw shots per game while averaging nearly 3.6 free throw attempts per game.

“Shooting is something I have worked on consistently since I was a kid,” said Somerville, whose extended family includes more than 50 cousins. “I used to think 3-pointers were easier to make than layups. My youth coach told me that the 3-point line does not change from first grade to college and that stuck with me.

“I knew that if I could shoot I could play on most teams.”

As the River Hawks’ shooting leader, Somerville made multiple 3-point field goals in 22 game including a career-high of six at St. Louis and Boston University and five each against Rivier University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Somerville is a high level 3-point shooter both off the catch and off the bounce according to Florida State’s coaching staff.

Somerville scored in double figures in 25 of UMass Lowell’s 32 games with his career-high of 22 points coming against both UMass and Boston University. Somerville and the Seminoles will face UMass this season on December 13 in the Orange Bowl Classic.

“Throughout my career I’ve always found different ways to score,” said Somerville. “Growing up I was always a smaller player. As I have gotten older and bigger I still understand angles and attack points really well.

During the recruiting process, first-year Seminole head coach Luke Loucks and his staff were quickly drawn to Somerville’s knowledge of the game along with his ability to score points In bunches.

“What we liked about Martin as we recruited him was his highly competitive nature, his ability to score in a variety of ways, and his elite 3-point shooting ability in catch and shoot and pick and roll situations,” said Loucks. “He can play with and without the ball.

“Martin has been everything we thought he was going to be during our spring and summer practices.  He’s going to improve as he gets stronger in our strength program under coach Ben O’Donnell.  He has a very exciting future.”

Somerville prides himself as an elite ball handler who is very good at creating not only for himself, but for his teammates.

“I’ve always been unselfish as a player because basketball is a team sport,” said Somerville. “I really became obsessed with learning the game and making the right reads and playing with more feel. That’s really when my game went to the next level.”

Because of his basketball pedigree which includes playing at Washington, DC powerhouses Georgetown Prep and Bishop McNamara, and a year in the Overtime Elite program, Somerville never doubted his ability to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“I always knew I could compete at the highest level,” said Somerville. “I have been playing at the highest level since I was a kid. I have a legitimate confidence in my craft. Playing at Lowell just solidified that for me.”

While Somerville has come up aces on the basketball court in his first summer as a Seminole, he’s also keeping up his family’s scholarly tradition in the classroom with two A grades in his first summer on campus.

“Growing up my parents always preached that education is something nobody can take away from you,” said Somerville. “My parents worked hard to provide an elite level of education for me and my siblings, and it would be disrespectful not to put my best foot forward.”