Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
 

Oregon, rs freshman.Appears to me to be the real deal. Good size at 6' 4" with 4.5 type speed and extremely accurate. As with most young guys he needs to improve on going through his progressions and increase arm strength. At a similar stage i would compare him to a Sam Bradford.

I liked what I saw last night..showed a bunch of grit going back in after the shoulder injury.

I'm always wary of Oregon guys, but I did like what I saw. It's hard to gauge what kind of velocity he can put on throws, though.

We've got at least one more year to watch Mariota (and much more likely 2) so I see no reason to make definite pronouncements now. I care more about how he progresses than where he is now.

Same goes for Manziel for that matter.

He's not an Oregon guy. He's a Hawaii guy. ;)

Their stats are a similar, but that is grossly misleading given how radically different their offenses are.

That shouldn't be held against him.

yeah, in Oregon's offense the QB throw like 90% short passes and screens. Not saying Bradford didn't throw a lot of screens in that offense, but he threw the downfield and intermediate passes a lot more at Oklahoma and his arm talent was obvious. I haven't seen anything from Mariota that leads me to believe he's a big time future NFL prospect in that system. Big numbers in the passing stat box means next to nothing, can be/are very misleading in QB evaluations

Don't hate baby.

He reminds me a bit of Colin Kaepernick. Doesn't have the massive arm strength that Kaep did/does, but is much more accurate. The calmness he has for a Freshman (albiet RS) is insane, He's got ice water running through his veins.

His velosity is so hard to judge because he uses such good touch and throws a super catchable ball when he has, doesn't gun it to guys 2 yards away. I'm not sure about the consistency of his zip, but the kid can definitely gun it in there when needed.

Saturday was the first day Mariota had to actually carry the offense with his arm. Up to that point, Barner and Thomas were able to provide the spark to the offense. Saturday was Mariota's day. And this coming in the heels of a stellar week against USC the week before.

We are catching Mariota at the peak of his very short career so it's natural for things to look peachy. But right now he looks fantastic.

Totally agree. It's too early to tell but first impressions look good. As you implied, Cal loaded up on the run and forced Oregon to throw. I thought Mariota did a good job of looking off some of the coverage and finding his second and third options.

Overrall i like Mariota's potential and makeup right now. Needs to get better but at first look here i see a potential star down the road.

Hopefully he keeps his streak of 200+ passer rating throughout the next two games and the Pac-12 Championship... He deserves to be in the Heisman race just as much as Barner does.

Holy ****.....he's faster than I realized.

Yeap, he runs a lot like Vince Young did with that long deceptive stride moving to his right. Great athlete.

I have to tip my hat to Herbstreit back in the summer for hyping this guy when Bennett was still penciled as the starter.

Mariota throws so much better than anyone Oregon has had in a long time. A HUGE difference between the freshman and D Thomas last year.

Mariota also gets the corner as well as any QB out there. Really has great escapability when flushed from pocket.

Got flushed out to his right far too many times tonight. He would be better served to move around a bit more in the pocket and work the middle of the field.