Marcus Says Aloha to the NFL with this Week’s NFL Combine
Now that the college football season has ended, after a disappointing loss to Ohio State, Oregon faces new hurdles with losing Heisman trophy winner Marcus Mariota, defensive lineman Arik Armstead, defensive back Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, amongst others.
Although Oregon is saying goodbye to some of the best players in school history, the NFL is welcoming them with open arms by inviting the three mentioned above, along with four others, to the NFL combine. The combine is set to take place in Indianapolis on February 17th through the 23rd.
The NFL Combine provides Marcus a chance to set himself apart from Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston, who is now the projected 1st overall pick on several mock drafts.
The fear with Marcus is that he is a product of the spread offense system. Throughout his tenure at Oregon, he took limited snaps under center. Most NFL, or pro, style offenses have a bulk of their snaps coming from under center.
But, the statistics speak from themselves. During his college career Marcus had 105 touchdowns to only 14 interceptions. While posting a career best 4,454 passing yards his junior season. Also, not to mention this past season was his second best completion rate, effectively completing 68.3 percent of his passes. That is only .2 percent behind his best completion rate, which was during his freshman season.
When Marcus cannot get it done with his arm, he can do so with his legs. Between his three seasons here, he rushed for 2,237 yards and 29 touchdowns. If that was not impressive enough, he also caught two touchdowns during his time at Oregon. Once during his redshirt freshman year and the other during his redshirt junior year.
Now for Jameis Winston. Jameis played only two seasons in college, whereas Marcus played three seasons. During his time at Florida State University, Jameis threw for 7,964 yards and 65 touchdowns, but he threw 28 interceptions. He also rushed for 286 yards and 7 touchdowns. Thus making him reply solely on his arm, and giving him less of a dual threat quality.
For reference, Marcus’ lowest rushing season was 2013 when he only ran for 715 yards.
Even though Marcus’ statistics dominate Jameis’ statistics, he still is not considered the number one quarterback taken in this coming draft. Marcus is going to have to prove to NFL scouts, and coaches, that he can indeed be productive in any NFL system. He will also have to demonstrate deadeye accuracy from the pocket. If Marcus can do this, the Oregon Ducks might have another top three pick in the last three years.
Statistics via ESPN.
