College football fans, and rightly so, get excited when their favorite team signs multiple five-star and four-star recruits. But sometimes the star system isn’t an exact science.
Former Oregon Duck quarterback Marcus Mariota is a prime example. The 2014 Heisman Trophy winner came to Eugene as a three-star recruit and actually redshirted his first year as a Duck. But once he was put in Chip Kelly’s system, there was no looking back.
Mariota has three incredible seasons at Oregon, and according to The Athletic, the Hawai’i native is No. 15 in their Top 25 college football players in the last quarter century.
“A three-star recruit from Hawaii, the soft-spoken 6-4 220-pound Mariota was bigger than you think — and faster too. He made everything look easy,” writer Bruce Feldman said. “In three seasons, Mariota totaled 134 touchdowns with just 14 interceptions. He took home the 2014 Heisman Trophy, earning over 88 percent of the first-place votes while leading Oregon to the national title game.
“In the CFP semifinals against Florida State, Mariota threw for 338 yards to go with 62 rushing yards as the Ducks blew out the Noles 59-20. But Oregon lost in the title game, 42-20, against Ohio State. In his career at Oregon, Mariota was 12-3 in games against ranked opponents. All 12 of those wins came by double digits, with the Ducks averaging 48.5 points in those games.”
Mariota left some big cleats to fill and until Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel made their way to Eugene, the two Heisman finalists recreated the notion that Oregon could be QBU once again, with Dante Moore looking to continue the tradition in 2025.
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Source link : https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2025/05/25/marcus-mariota-top-25-player-last-quarter-century/83854961007/
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Publish date : 2025-05-25 19:59:00
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