Heisman favorite Marcus Mariota: Steady and spectacular

George Schroeder | USA TODAY Sports

EUGENE, Ore. — Only one significant goal remains unachieved, all of these years later, from the class assignment produced by the fourth-grader at Nuuanu Elementary in 2003.

Marcus Mariota eventually became the quarterback at Honolulu's St. Louis School, just like he said he would.

He's the quarterback at Oregon – and for the assignment, he projected himself as a college quarterback (his preferences then: USC or Oregon).

But he has not yet taken the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl. "Obviously, that's still (out) there," he said, laughing.

At this point, is there much reason to doubt it might one day happen? Mariota, a third-year sophomore for the Ducks, led the initial survey of Heisman voters by USA TODAY Sports this week. He's being projected near the top of various 2014 NFL mock drafts. But Mariota hasn't written those achievements on any future-focused lists.

A more immediate goal exists. And as No. 2 Oregon hosts No. 11 UCLA on Saturday, in full pursuit of the BCS championship, the unquestioned catalyst is a second-year starter who won't turn 20 until next Wednesday.

"Marcus Mariota is the engine that makes this thing go," Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. "We would not be as good as we are without Marcus. No offense intended to anybody, we just would not be."

This might be the best, most complete Oregon team in the program's recent rise to elite. Aliotti's defense, annually underrated, shouldn't be overlooked. But the impact of one player on an already potent offense shouldn't be underestimated, either. Mariota's dual-threat capability – and his poised decision-making – has elevated the Ducks to another level. Consider this, from a frustrated coach after Oregon had beaten Washington 45-24 on Oct. 12:

"We just unfortunately had a hard time containing Marcus Mariota," Steve Sarkisian said. "He threw the ball extremely well and when we covered them, he ran. We tried to catch him, we tried to spot him, we tried to blitz him and we tried to contain him, but he played a tremendous game."

He has played plenty of those, enough already that former Oregon standout Joey Harrington recently suggested Mariota will finish his career as the school's best quarterback ever. And Oregon coach Mark Helfrich doesn't shoot down the idea.

"I can understand why you'd make that statement," Helfrich said. "You just take the parts: arm strength, release, speed, intelligence, sense of space, all those things – he's really good." But the most important trait might be this: "He's just a cool customer," Helfrich said. "In good times, in tough times, he's the same guy."

Alana Mariota, Marcus' mother, says he came by the trait from his father, Toa, an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security, and that they first noticed it when Marcus started playing Pop Warner football. "We've always called Marcus an 'old soul,' " she said. "He's always had this plan of where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do."

Outwardly, if he seems laidback, even nonchalant, she said it's more a quiet, poised intensity.

"He doesn't get rattled," Alana Mariota said. "If things fall apart, he'll be able to make something happen."

Oregon coaches say the same thing. In Mariota's 20 games as a starter, Oregon is 19-1. Though he lost two fumbles last week in the Ducks' 62-38 victory against Washington State, those were his first two turnovers of the season. He hasn't thrown an interception yet, in 197 attempts – something no other full-time FBS starter can claim. Helfrich said Mariota "self-corrects," and has rarely made the same mistake twice, and often not once.

"From the first day here, he's had that ability to block everything out and just execute," Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost said. "He's got a lot of physical skills, obviously, but that's probably his best asset."

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Mariota played receiver when he started in Pop Warner football. He moved to quarterback a year later after his father noticed how well he threw the football without any instruction. Despite that fourth-grade prediction, though, Mariota didn't start for St. Louis School until his senior season – after he had been offered and accepted a scholarship to Oregon, which beat out Washington and Memphis.

Helfrich, then the Ducks' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, discovered Mariota while watching video of another high-school player. He started asking around, then went to evaluate Mariota during the spring of his junior year.

"He was almost like a mythical character when I got out there," Helfrich said, "because everyone was like, 'Oh, he's the greatest person in the world, he's got a 7.0 GPA,' and just all of these things. And you keep waiting for 'but,' but it never came."

Then Helfrich watched practice. Mariota won each sprint to start practice, then threw spiral darts, and then returned to Eugene and told coaches Mariota reminded him of former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer. The better comparison now, after Mariota grew to 6-4 and filled out to 211 pounds, might be to Colin Kaepernick.

"That's what everyone tells me," Mariota said. "I don't know. Growing up, my dad instilled this in me: You try not to compare yourself to other people, because you can lose focus on how good you can be."

For a star in the making, Mariota is not fond of the spotlight. Ask how good he can be, or how well he played, and he shrinks from the topic, deflecting it to anything or anyone but himself.

"Deep down, I think he knows how good he is," Frost said, "but you would never get him to say it. Most people have to force themselves to use the clichés and talk about the team. With Marcus, I think that's just who he is."

Hroniss Grasu, Oregon's junior center, pointed to a moment on the eve of Oregon's Sept. 7 game at Virginia. At the hotel during team meetings, when Mariota noticed trash had fallen between the plastic liner and the can, he picked the trash out, then carefully replaced the liner.

"That's just Marcus," Grasu said. "Night before the game, your starting quarterback, not a whole lot of guys really notice that, but he goes and fixes that trash bag. To me, that's Marcus. He's thinking of the little things."

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Sometime soon after Mariota's first day in Eugene in 2011, he began drawing rave whispers from Oregon insiders. Practices were closed, but this true freshman quarterback, they said, was causing all sorts of trouble for the defense.

Mariota's success since has led to an unanswerable debate: What if Darron Thomas, who left early for the NFL Draft after the 2011 season (and went undrafted) had stayed in school? "It would have been a great competition," Helfrich said.

Here's another, with wider appeal: When Mariota attended an Oregon camp the summer before his senior year, he competed with another promising unknown. Johnny Manziel accepted a scholarship offer from the Ducks, but later decided to play closer to his Texas home. What if both Mariota and Manziel had gone to Oregon?

It's unknowable. But when Mariota instead beat out Bryan Bennett to start the 2012 season, it was quickly apparent the Ducks wouldn't skip a beat without Thomas. The new starter was good, and they were better.

Helfrich said Mariota is still getting better. Which is why Oregon is, too. Like always, the running game is potent. Even without star running back De'Anthony Thomas, who has missed four consecutive games because of an ankle injury, the Ducks rank No. 2 nationally in rushing, averaging 332.4 yards. But with Mariota, Oregon has a more dangerous vertical passing game and a more balanced attack (they're averaging 310.7 passing yards), and as important, a steady presence. When he makes a rare mistake, Helfrich said it's often because he made the correct decision too quickly.

"That's a great problem for a quarterback to have," Helfrich said.

So is what probably comes next, which is a rush of publicity followed by a ride on the awards circuit and then maybe, if things have gone really well, a shot at the BCS national championship. In a few months, he'll have the opportunity to jump early for the NFL. Mariota plans to take his time on a really big decision.

"We've talked about it," he admitted, referring to discussions with his parents. "But we kind of came to the conclusion that once the season is done, once everything has settled down, we'll make a decision that's best for our family."

If he seems completely unfazed by the approaching attention, and the gathering pressure that comes with it, no one is surprised. At one point during the Washington game, Mariota limped off the field, favoring a knee. Though it was quickly evident he wasn't seriously hurt, Frost was prepared to cut quarterback runs out of the game plan.

First, though, he called down from the coaches' box to Helfrich: "Can you check with Marcus one more time?" The head coach's reply: "Bet you $1,000 he just says, 'I'm good.' "

A few moments later, Helfrich was back on the headset. "You owe me $1,000," he told Frost. It was predictable – and an understatement. When he came back, he was better.

"Marcus is always the same," Grasu said. "His attitude never changes. But his performance keeps peaking and peaking."

George Schroeder, a national college football reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @GeorgeSchroeder.