On the path to greatness

Marcus Mariota has owned the front page of the local sports section for the past year.

In the past 12 months, the Saint Louis graduate won the Heisman Trophy, led the Oregon Ducks to the title game of the first College Football Playoff, was taken second overall in the NFL Draft, and became the starting quarterback for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

While all of that was going on, another Hawaii product at Oregon was setting himself up for a successful future of his own.

DeForest Buckner flirted with turning pro after his junior season and nearly followed Mariota into the NFL.

He ultimately felt like he needed another good year to really improve his draft stock and decided to return to Oregon.

Only five days after Mariota became the highest NFL draft pick from Hawaii did Buckner realize his life might follow a path similar to Mariota’s.

Sports Illustrated came out with its first mock draft for 2016 and had Buckner, who was as surprised as anyone, going No. 4 overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I’ve always been an under-the-radar kind of person,” the 2012 Punahou graduate said Monday. “I didn’t put myself out there and kind of did my own thing. Suddenly all these people started calling me and I started getting all of this attention.”

Buckner’s mix of size (6 feet 7, 300 pounds) and athleticism makes him a combine monster, dripping with potential and possibility.

By playing one more year with the Ducks, he has turned that potential into production, more than doubling his previous season high in sacks with 81⁄2 through 11 games while recording 69 total tackles.

He’s played so well that the SI prognostication from a year ago may not be that far off.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper rates Buckner as the No. 2 defensive end draft prospect in the 2016 class and has him No. 8 overall on his latest Big Board.

“It’s worked out well,” Buckner said of returning to school. “I’m glad I made the decision to come back. I’ve been able to boost my stock in the draft and am able to finish my degree and play one more year.”

Buckner’s final home game is Friday, when the Ducks host Oregon State in the annual Civil War game.

Oregon won’t play in a BCS bowl for just the second time in the past seven seasons, but is coming off two of its best performances of the year in wins over Stanford and USC.

The Ducks have won five straight since losing three of their first six games and have risen to No. 18 in the latest Associated Press Top 25.

“We faced some adversity early on with our starting quarterback (Vernon Adams) getting hurt,” Buckner said. “But I think we did a good job of rallying around it and not blaming each other and pointing fingers, because that’s how teams fold. We’ve done a good job of not doing that.”

Oregon will finish second or third in the Pac-12 North division, needing a Washington State loss to Washington to finish ahead of the Cougars.

The Ducks are likely headed to the Holiday Bowl or Alamo Bowl, assuming they get past the Beavers, who haven’t won a conference game this season.

Although its a down year at Oregon State, Buckner says it doesn’t take away from the fun of a rivalry.

“It’s all about pride in being the best team from Oregon, really,” Buckner said. “When it comes to this game, the records don’t matter, the players on your team don’t matter, those guys come out to play us every year and you can never take them lightly because it’s going to be a dog fight.”

The game will be shown on Fox Sports 1 in Hawaii at 11 a.m.

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