When offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich watched freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota juke a defender and take off on an electrifying 82-yard touchdown run in the second quarter of Saturday’s spring game, he knew just what was unfolding in front of him.
It was a brilliant play, of course, the sure highlight of a memorable afternoon that saw Mariota complete 18 of 26 passes for 202 yards while also running for 99 more in his first live action in front of the Oregon faithful.@@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/842780.pdf?ATCLID=205421189&SPSID=3383&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
But it was also part of something larger and far more powerful: a first impression.
“That’s going to be everyone’s first impression of him,” Helfrich said. “And he needs to use that to fuel his summer, to have a great summer.”
Fair or not, this is the standard Mariota will be held to once fall camp begins and the quarterback competition between him and sophomore Bryan Bennett begins to really heat up. Where once, just less than a week ago, he was a mostly unknown commodity — a quiet Hawaiian who spoke softly but confidently outside the shuttered doors of practice — from here on out, he will be known as the gifted 6-foot-4 field general who runs nearly as fast as his laser-guided throws travel downfield; who can calmly, efficiently lead an offense down by alternating between pinpoint passing and option running and staying (mostly) mistake-free.
It was one day and one scrimmage, as Helfrich repeatedly pointed out, but that’s just the point: Without anything else to go on, fans and media alike will always go back to Saturday afternoon and that one highlight in particular, of Mariota outrunning even the cornerbacks with those long, loping strides.
It’ll be a tough act to follow whenever it is Mariota next takes the field under the bright lights. For proof, he can simply turn to Bennett, who knows a thing or two about first impressions.
When the then-redshirt freshman was forced into action after Darron Thomas went down this past season against Arizona State, he was immediately impressive, scampering around the field to the tune of 65 yards on just five carries and leading the Ducks to a comeback victory in the second half.@@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/430710.htm?SPID=233&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ Filling in once again the next week against woeful Colorado, he passed for 156 yards and two touchdowns while also running for 69 more yards.@@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/431104.htm?SPID=233&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ Soon, the murmurs about Thomas’ job status began in earnest. When Bennett replaced a still-gimpy Thomas in the second half against Washington State a week later, the murmurs turned into pointed questions. In a once unthinkable scenario, Thomas — soon to become Oregon’s all-time leader in touchdown passes and less than a year removed from a national championship appearance — was forced to take the podium and defend his job status.
Nothing drastic came of it, and Thomas went on to lead Oregon to a Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin before departing for the NFL Draft. But, until Saturday, most experts fully expected Bennett to win the starting job and perhaps take Oregon to even further heights than Thomas could. That first impression, if brief, suggested nothing but future greatness from the lanky Encino, Calif., native.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3378&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204971236&Q_SEASON=2012@@
How quickly narratives flip.
Bennett’s day wasn’t a total bust on Saturday — he passed for seven more yards than Mariota and at times displayed the touch and pocket presence of a veteran.@@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/842780.pdf?ATCLID=205421189&SPSID=3383&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ But, there were also two costly interceptions and a lost fumble, and it was clear who, in Chip Kelly parlance, “won the day.”
The powerful first-impression trophy switched hands on Saturday, and both quarterbacks now enter individual summer workouts on opposing trajectories. Yet, in other ways, nothing has really changed — at least from the coaches’ viewpoint.
Kelly spent most of the game, in his words, “running around like an idiot,” and his calm demeanor afterward suggested individual first impressions and positive momentum were far from his mind. More than anything else, he can take comfort in knowing he has the enviable problem of possessing too much talent.
“It’s not a position I’m worried about, whether it’s Bryan or Marcus next year,” Kelly said. “I’m confident in both those guys if we’ve got to go play in a game.”
For Helfrich, the most important thing to impart on both players as they part ways for the summer is to use positive and negative vibes alike as motivation.
“(Bryan) didn’t have his best day today, and the unit around him didn’t have their best day today,” he said. “And so he’s got to flip that and use that as momentum. It’s one day.”
Just one day, indeed, and one that shouldn’t define either player’s future. Whether it will or not, of course, remains to be seen.