Watching the names of the quarterbacks come off the board in the NFL Draft, you had to wonder.

As the newly minted multi-millionaires emerged from the green room for hugs and handshakes with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the full ESPN star treatment, the question hung there like a sky punt:

Might there be some lingering second thoughts for Marcus Mariota about passing up the chance to be among, if not ahead, of them?

After all, the Saint Louis School graduate had been projected a top-five NFL pick until Dec. 3, when he announced that he would return to the University of Oregon for what will be his redshirt junior season.

"No second thoughts whatsoever," his mother, Alana, resolutely maintained in a text.

Some wincing, perhaps, about walking away from the prospect of all the moolah, the potential of a $12-$20 million deal?

"Actually, Marcus said he was not watching it; he had class," his mother wrote.

Whatever you think of his decision — and has there ever been a bigger roll of the dice by a Hawaii-bred athlete? — give the two-time All-Pac-12 quarterback this: The strength of his right arm and fleet feet are apparently exceeded only by that of his conviction.

That determination will be one of the biggest things he has going for him in 2014 when the Ducks are the team to beat in the Pac-12 and Mariota is the face of the program. 

The resolve to make his return pay off for the Ducks and himself can be glimpsed in pictures and video from Oregon’s recently concluded spring practice, where the

6-foot-4 Mariota is an obviously stouter 218 pounds, a testament to off-season discipline. 

This apparently without sacrificing any of the speed that helped him average 7.9 yards per rush in 2013, the most of any quarterback.

It was Mariota’s dual capabilities, 65.8 percent career passing completion average (63 touchdowns against 10 interceptions) that had  draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. — and others — pegging him as a top-five pick despite coming off a partial ligament sprain of the left knee.

Had Mariota submitted his name for the draft and projections panned out, he would have been the highest-drafted player out of Hawaii.

Defensive end Al Harris (Leilehua/Arizona State) went ninth overall in 1979. Guard Chris Naeole (Kahuku/Colorado) and Tyson Alualu (Saint Louis/Cal) went 10th — Naeole in 1997, Alualu in 2010.

But Mariota said his decision was driven by wanting to earn a degree (sciences) and enjoy one more year of college life. 

When Mariota announced his return, it was greeted with surprise in NFL circles. In Oregon it was headlined as, "the biggest victory of (head coach) Mark Helfrich’s tenure."

"When you make your decision for the right reasons, it is easier to live with," said Andrew Luck, who made a return to Stanford pay off by being the No. 1 selection in the 2012 draft. "But it doesn’t get any easier just because you’ve come back for another year. In fact, in many respects, it can be more difficult. I think it will work out for him. I hope it does … except against Stanford."

The hope here is that Mariota’s ligaments prove to be as durable as his strength of conviction. 

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