Another First for Marcus Mariota?

Max Thornberry FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

The 2014 football season was a season of firsts for the Ducks and undoubtedly one that will be remembered as one of the greatest of all time. This off-season will be just as historic with the departure of Marcus Mariota and another potential first, the retiring of an Oregon Duck jersey.

Reported by Geoffrey Arnold of The Oregonian an online petition has been started, calling for the school to retire its first-ever jersey number. If there is a player that deserves the honor it is Mariota, who lead the Ducks to the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship and brought the University its first Heisman award.

Mariota was the first Pac-12 player to have over 5,000 yards of offense in a single season

Mariota was the first Pac-12 player to have 5,000+ yards of offense in a single season.

Mariota finished his college career with a 36-5 record as a starter. Over the last three years he has thrown for more than 10,000 yards and 105 touchdowns with only 14 interceptions. Of course, all the work he accomplished with his golden arm was complemented by his skill as a rusher, running for 2,237 yards and 29 touchdowns, and wreaking havoc on defenses and bringing fans to their feet — not to mention the fact that he has thrown a touchdown pass in every game he has started and was the first Pac-12 player to accumulate more than 5,000 yards of total offense in a season.

While his actions on the field were eye-popping and awe-inspiring, it is his demeanor off the field that will be remembered. Widely regarded as the nicest player in the nation, he was a model for what a quarterback should be: a leader on and off the field.

In honor of a player who has done so much for the school, it would be fitting for his number to be the first Oregon has ever retired.

Top Photo by Kevin Cline

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

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