Take a stroll down Sandy Beach in Hawaii on a summer afternoon and you might catch a glimpse of famed Saint Louis School alums Jason Gesser and Timmy Chang confronting shoulder-length waves with their boards in tow as they enjoy their vacations.
The surfing hotbed on the southeast tip of Oahu faces the island of Molokai, and a rush of strong currents can produce adrenaline inducing conditions, which attract dauntless locals eager to take on the most demanding waves in the area. It is a place another famous former Crusaders quarterback has frequented to stoke his competitive juices and escape the stressors of life.
“If you ever get a chance to ask him about body surfing, his eyes will probably light up,” said Darnell Arceneaux, a former head coach at the powerhouse Hawaiian program. “Marcus has taken on some big waves, too, five, six-foot waves with a 10-foot face. It might be why he has been so successful – no moment has gotten too big for him.”
Throughout the 2014 college football season, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota has used such poise under pressure to produce a nearly flawless season while leading the Ducks to a No2 national ranking and a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff. On Saturday night, Mariota won the Heisman Trophy in a landslide, capturing more than 90% of the vote.
In the days leading up to Saturday’s announcement, the question for many close observers of college football wasn’t if Mariota would become the first Hawaiian native to win the Heisman or if he would even eclipse former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith with the highest-percentage of possible votes in the history of the famed award. As Mariota has emerged as a likely No1 pick in next spring’s NFL Draft, he could be the next in line to reverse a befuddling trend: will the Ducks quarterback become the first recent Heisman winner to excel on the next level among a fraternity of quarterbacks that has largely underperformed?
Over the last decade, the list is extensive. Of the last five quarterbacks who have won the Heisman and moved on to the NFL – Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III, Cam Newton, Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow – only Newton has accomplished a modicum of success (Griffin did have a spectacular first season but has faded since, while it is too early to tell how Manziel’s career will pan out). Two others, Smith and former USC quarterback Matt Leinart, spent the majority of their careers as glorified backups. Neither Smith, nor Leinart has started an NFL regular season game since 2011. Both are currently out of the league.
“It has to do with a lot of factors. If you go down the list, each player has a different story,” said former Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch, the 2001 Heisman winner. “It could be that they’re asked to play a different position or they might have an ambition to play a different sport. Maybe it’s an injury like a serious knee injury and their knees just can’t take the pounding. It goes to show you why making the transition is so hard.”
Crouch, who set the NCAA record for most career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, has the credentials and experience with the Ducks’ offensive scheme to provide a valuable assessment on whether Mariota can excel in the NFL. When Crouch starred with the Cornhuskers, current Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost had joined the Nebraska coaching program as a young offensive assistant. Like Mariota, Crouch was a gifted dual-threat quarterback who threw with power and precision. When the pocket collapsed, Crouch consistently took off and eluded opposing defenses with his top-end speed and shiftiness.
Crouch, who has provided astute commentary for Fox and CBS Sports Network since finishing his professional career in 2011, is enamored with Mariota’s temperament and command of the huddle.
“Every time he plays, he is extremely impressive. You can see his calmness around duress and his ability to shield the things around him,” Crouch said. “As a quarterback you have to recognize the rushers coming off the edge and pick up the blitz. A lot of people attribute that to talent, but it comes down to being smart.”
“He understands blitz packages much like Drew Brees and Tom Brady. Those are guys who are confident in their abilities and have the confidence to pick it up,” Crouch added. “He’s also fast, athletic and knows when to take off. He’s one of those players everyone wants to see.”
The attributes are ones Mariota developed in high school under Arceneaux, a former quarterback at the University of Utah. Mariota, who didn’t start for the Crusaders until his senior season, studied film assiduously at Saint Louis, often waiting at the front door of Arceneaux’s office to absorb his coach’s knowledge of the game. In the heat of the moment, Arceneaux instructed his quarterback to install a “running video in his head,” on how to attack defenses such as the Cover-1, Cover-2 and Cover-3.
It comes as little surprise to Arceneaux, then, that Mariota has flourished at Oregon in reading coverages and diagnosing defenses in pre-snap situations.
“His football IQ is off the charts with the way he reads defenses and goes through his progressions,” Arceneaux said. “He hits the No1 receiver faster than anyone I’ve ever seen – in college or the NFL.”
Mariota redshirted his freshman season in 2011, before spending one season under Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly. In Mariota’s first year as a starter, he set a PAC-12 conference record for touchdown passes by a freshman with 32, while falling one touchdown short of the school’s all-time mark.
When Kelly left for the NFL the following the season, Mariota did not skip a beat under replacement Mark Helfrich. Since Kelly’s departure, Mariota has accounted for 92 total touchdowns in Oregon’s high-tempo offense, while only tossing six interceptions. During Mariota’s Heisman campaign, he also posted a total QB rating of 92.8, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Over the past decade, only Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson have produced higher ratings in a single season.
“I had nothing to do with Marcus’ development,” Kelly said on Friday. “When he was a freshman, [however], I remarked, ‘This kid is going to win the Heisman.’”
“Anything he does numbers wise doesn’t surprise me. I think it’s more about how he handles himself and his demeanor that really sets him apart. He’s the most talented kid that I coached in college.”
Unlike pocket passers such as Bradford and Leinart, Mariota possesses a threat to run nearly each time he drops back. This season, Mariota has averaged 11.45 yards per carry and has rushed for five touchdowns in read-option situations, according to Stats, LLC. The figures are drastically higher than Manziel’s read-option statistics when the former Texas A&M quarterback won the Heisman in 2012.
While Manziel and others often display a proclivity for threatening opposing defenses on the ground, Arceneaux says Mariota only runs out of necessity. It’s a facet of Mariota’s game that could set him apart when he arrives in the NFL.
“He is a passer first with running ability, not the other way around,” Arceneaux said. “He can do it from the pocket like Russell Wilson. He has that ability to make plays with his legs, extend the play and push the ball downfield. You see Johnny Manziel and RGIII, they’re always looking to run. Marcus isn’t like that, he will hold it until the absolute last moment before he runs.”
There are two factors that may hamper Mariota’s development when he makes the step up to the NFL. His capacity for making accurate throws while handling the blitz has come under question, while it remains to be seen how a shy kid could handle the pressure of performing in a major market if he is selected by a team like the New York Jets or Washington (although that scenario looks unlikely after the Jets’ win over the Titans on Sunday). There are signs that Mariota has inner steel though: early in his career at Oregon, the soft-spoken Hawaiian felt homesick at times and often deferred to older team-mates in the locker room. Those concerns may have been assuaged against Stanford last season when an injured Mariota delivered an impassioned speech to his team-mates at half-time.
“My team-mates asked me to step up, to be more vocal and understand that words can be powerful,” Mariota told ESPN. “I can’t thank them enough. It’s definitely an ongoing process, I’ve come a long way.”
Crouch, for one, believes Mariota can thrive in the same environment where other Heisman quarterbacks have failed.
“I don’t think it’s too early to tell. He has a great arm and throws a great ball, he has everything NFL scouts are looking for,” Crouch said. “The questions that arise are whether he will play for the right coach and the right system. Those are the unknowns.”
