At one point this season, Marcus Mariota was leading the Heisman race and looked like a lock to leave school. It turns out that he will pass on the NFL for at least one more season and return to Oregon for his (redshirt) Junior season.
Mariota finished the season with 3412 passing yards with 30 TD/4 INT and added 582 rushing yards and 9 TDs on the ground. You would think with those types of numbers he might strike while the iron is hot but his draft stock may have taken a hit with Oregon stumbling down the home stretch.
Here is the quote from Mariota himself via goducks.com:
“It is an honor to be a student at the University of Oregon and to have the opportunity to represent our institution on the football field alongside my teammates,” said Mariota. “I look forward to earning my degree next year and to the rest of my career at this great University.”
Nice touch from Oregon using Instagram to announce this using the caption “Marcus Mariota & Hroniss Grasu have announced they’ll return to the Ducks in 2014 #goducks” but that’s not surprising since they are one of the best in college football at using social media.