You are 21 years old and about to get your first real job — full- or part-time — Thursday.
Only this won’t be at the neighborhood mall. You have interviewed with six widely known national brands who are not only eager to hire you but also to make you the youthful face of the company.
You are so heavily sought that some of them might go to great lengths to acquire your services, including mortgaging the company’s immediate future.
Whichever one it is — and the drama will be played out on national TV — you will be the immediate winner with a guaranteed salary of $20 million to $25 million over your first four years.
Welcome to Marcus Mariota’s world and the most compelling storyline in the 80th NFL Draft.
"It is all still surreal," said Mariota, who added he has never been employed. "Each and every day that I wake up, I am grateful."
Indeed, even in his most untethered dreams in Margie Tupper’s fourth-grade class at Nuuanu Elementary, where he wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey and had the confidence to write that he would someday be an NFL quarterback, it is remarkable.
Even as what became a Heisman Trophy career at the University of Oregon took off, Mariota said the full import of this day was unimagined. "I mean, you have high expectations for yourself but, to say this would happen, well … it is a dream come true."
It is an indication of the humility that he has retained throughout the headline-making journey that he has chosen to so widely celebrate his good fortune. Instead of tradition and an appearance on the stage at the NFL Draft site, which is at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago, Mariota has chosen to stay home.
He will forgo the ritual handshake with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell — and the preselection green room anxiety — and share the moment with dozens of family, friends, former coaches and teammates at a private, invitation-only gathering at the Saint Louis Alumni Clubhouse in Moiliili.
"I kind of made a promise to myself that I’d do it at home just because so many people who helped me get to this point in the process," Mariota said. "I wanted to be able to share the moment with them."
So, the draft — or at least a slice of its spotlight — will come 4,250 miles to him. The soaring interest in who will draft Mariota is such that it brings national football media here for the first time since 2007 when an unbeaten and nationally ranked University of Hawaii football team was cracking the Bowl Championship Series. And doesn’t that seem like ages ago?
The top two teams in the draft order, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans, have brought Mariota in for workouts and interviews as have four others, the New York Jets (sixth pick), Chicago Bears (seventh), St. Louis Rams (10th) and San Diego Chargers (17th), who said they were considering trading up for the rights to draft him. Cleveland has already sought to bundle its two first-round picks, Nos. 12 and 19, in a package for Mariota.
Through it all Mariota displays a calmness that served him well in the pocket at Oregon.
"I don’t pay much attention or get too caught up in it because there are so many things that can happen, so many scenarios that I can’t control," Mariota said.
Mariota maintains there is no "favorite" team even if his family preference is one close to home. "I’m just blessed to have the opportunities."
"You can’t really worry about what is going on, all the scenarios," Mariota said. "All I can do is enjoy the time with my family and friends. This is all kind of fun and we’ll just see what happens."
After all, this isn’t your average first job.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
