Two weeks after announcing he was returning to Oregon for his redshirt junior season, quarterback Marcus Mariota still is a little curious about where he stands in the eyes of scouts.
According to CBS Sports, the NFL Advisory Committee has since received Mariota’s request for an evaluation, NFLDraftScout.com has confirmed.
Former NFL scout and Senior Bowl contributor John Middlekauf initially reported that Mariota did not request his grade from the committee before announcing that he would return to Oregon. Rob Moseley, the editor of Oregon’s official athletics website, GoDucks.com, refuted Middlekauf’s report, stating that Mariota told him that he had, in fact, requested an evaluation. Considering that both reports came on December 7 — four days after Mariota’s statement — it is possible that each is correct.
According to Craig Pintens, Oregon’s senior associate athletic director, Mariota requested his grade “the day after the Civil War.”
Marcus Mariota requested his draft evaluation the day after the Civil War. Decision was made regardless of eval. #GoDucks
— Craig Pintens (@UOPintens) December 18, 2013
Some scouts and NFL execs still can’t understand why Mariota wants to return to school with such a high draft grade.
“Why wouldn’t he want to look into [coming out this year]?” one high ranking NFL source said on the condition on anonymity. “[Mariota] could be the first quarterback drafted this year. That may not happen next year.”