Had Marcus Mariota led Oregon to the first national title in school history, perhaps the decision would be a bit easier. Instead, Mariota is left with a big decision to make and not a lot of time to make it.
Mariota has just about 48 hours to make his decision on whether to leave for the NFL Draft or return for one more season in Eugene to lead the Ducks on another national championship hunt. Mariota was noncommittal one way or the other in the moments following Oregon’s loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday night in Arlington, Texas.
“I have not [made a decision],” Mariota said, per CSNNW.com. “I’ll take the next couple of days with my family to make that decision.”
Mariota has one final year of eligibility remaining and there is precedent for a quarterback likely to be one of the top picks in the draft for putting the NFL on hold. Some might even suggest Mariota now has more questions to answer following his performance in the championship game against Ohio State, but will that be enough to scare off an NFL franchise in need of a franchise quarterback? Mariota says there is a lot that will go into the decision, and he has continued to leave the door open for a return to the Ducks in 2015.
“There’s a lot of things that play into that decision,” Mariota said of whether or not he’d consider to return to Oregon for another season. “There’s starting grad school, coming back for another year and improve. There’s a lot of other things that could bring me back.”
Mariota, and every other college football underclassman, has until January 15 to declare for the NFL Draft.