NEW YORK >> If this is Saturday, and you are Marcus Mariota then this must be … New York?

Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Thursday night to pick up the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award and Maxwell Award as the College Football Player of the Year, Walter Camp Player of the Year. …

Baltimore Friday night to accept the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. …

And this morning he is scheduled to step off a train at New York’s Grand Central Station en route to a theater overlooking Times Square, where he is the odds-on favorite to hoist the 80th annual Heisman Memorial Trophy somewhere around 3:45 p.m., Hawaii time, on ESPN.

(The Heisman Presentation show begins at 3 p.m.)

Welcome to the Mariota trophy tour.

As great quarterbacks do, the Saint Louis School and Oregon graduate, by dint of his considerable accomplishments and celebrity, is lifting a lot of people with him. Not only emotionally, but symbolically and literally.

In giving the state of Hawaii, the University of Oregon and Saint Louis their first Heisman Trophy winner, he has significantly elevated perceptions of football in Hawaii in the process.

While Hawaii is widely known for producing linemen, linebackers and the occasional running back — Olin Kreutz, Dominic Raiola, Rockne Freitas, Manti Te’o, Mosi Tatupu among many — he has widened the spectrum to quarterbacks and opened minds. Not to mention access to scholarships.

To be sure our state has produced some good quarterbacks, including record-setting Tim Chang, Darnell Arceneaux and even one Heisman vote-getter, Jason Gesser, who finished seventh in 2002 to Carson Palmer. But quarterbacks of Division I-starter quality, much less national note have been exceedingly rare and far between.

What Mariota has done in three years as an All-Pac-12 quarterback, and now punctuated by the mounting awards, has opened wide the doors for the future. And not all that distant, either.

“Busted down the door, really,” suggested Arceneaux, who is quarterbacks coach at Occidental. “Coaches recruiting Hawaii now can recruit a complete football team, not just linemen and linebackers, anymore. Look around, there’s (receiver) Jeremy Tabuyo at Texas A&M, a kicker (Ka‘imi Fairbairn ) at UCLA and Marcus.”

The eyes that Te’o opened at Notre Dame brought more recruiters and more opportunities to Hawaii high school graduates and Mariota has underlined and expanded that. “Coaches know there are gems to be found in Hawaii,” Arceneaux said.

Beyond his extraordinary talents, Mariota has shown a well-grounded personality and values.

“He’s done it the right way,” Arceneaux said. “He’s shown the passion, work ethic and respect for the game that Hawaii players have.”

The biggest — and brightest — example of that is current Crusader quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who is already fielding Pac-12 scholarship offers as a sophomore.

“USC has offered him and how often do the Trojans go out of California for a quarterback, especially this far? And, the kid is just a sophomore,” said Ron Lee, the Crusaders’ offensive coordinator.

“What Marcus has done over the last few years is remarkable,” Gesser said. “He’s really put our QBs on the map and raised the standard all the way around.”

Oregon coach Mark Helfrich likes to say that, “Marcus makes everybody around him better; better players, better coaches, better people.”

Odds are Mariota will be hoisting a 45-pound bronze trophy on Saturday, but he’s already lifted a whole lot more.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.