Mariota gains his voice as confidence grows

Marcus Mariota stepped onto the stage at the Hukilau restaurant Wednesday and uneasily eyed the expanding Downtown Athletic Club of Hawaii crowd.

He rubbed perspiring palms on the sides of his pant legs, took a deep breath and then picked up a microphone and the personal challenge that has come with it.

Given the choice, Mariota said later, he’d still rather face a Pac-12 defense on third-down-and-long than speak to a room overflowing with people. 

At the University of Oregon, where Mariota hasn’t been required to talk in the huddle because there isn’t one in the fast-paced, record-breaking offense, shyness and humility had made him content to let performance speak for him.

But as the victories mounted (the Ducks are 23-3 in his starts) and his gaudy statistics (3,665 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2013) and acclaim (back-to-back All-Pac-12 quarterback honors) have grown, so, too, slowly but surely, has the authority and maturity in Mariota’s voice.

He warmed to the task in Wednesday’s question-and-answer session, soon dispensing one-liners, insight and inspiration, even if, he confided, it had taken the promise of the San Diego Chargers’ Manti Te’o sharing the stage to help get him there.

People who know and have followed Mariota from his Saint Louis School days will tell you he has increasingly broken out of his taut comfort zone. They say he has embraced vocal leadership heading into this, his redshirt junior and, likely, final college season before declaring for the 2015 NFL Draft. 

We’re told coaches at Oregon still occasionally invoke the so-called "Mariota Rule," where, in practice, he is required to say something to at least one teammate after each play. But more and more the words come naturally rather than by fiat.

Teammates say he is someone who has quietly led by example from his first day in Eugene, Ore., both through perseverance and attention to detail that commanded respect of upperclassmen. Now, they say, he has the confidence to become more vocal. Not in a shrill, look-at-me manner, but with inspiring encouragement. 

Mariota said, "I’m just naturally a quiet person, but I’ll do what the team needs me to do. I understand  that’s part of my job I think I’ve come a long way. I’m going to keep working at it."

In Te’o, a once-upon-a-time Punahou senior whom he barely dared to approach as a rival high school sophomore — "he probably doesn’t remember that," Mariota said — is a role model. 

Even more so now than then.

"He has given the local players dreams and aspirations," Mariota said. "He’s shown us what we can become by working hard and following his example. You look at the doors he has opened for us."

 There was an unmistakable bond growing between them as they passed the microphone back and forth Wednesday and swapped talk of their experiences on several fronts, including a shared longing for Portuguese sausage while away from home.

It is a remarkable bonding for two players who barely exchanged text messages in recent years and have come to know each other mostly by deed and reputation.

But, then, they share a standing that is unique among the state’s most accomplished football figures, the glare of the spotlight that comes with the challenge of both national championship aspirations and Heisman Trophy expectations. 

"I think with the Heisman attention there are a lot of bad things that can come from it, but there are also a lot of good things," said Te’o, who was the 2012 Heisman Trophy runner-up to Johnny Manziel while helping lead Notre Dame to the national championship game. "The only thing Marcus needs to do," Te’o said by way of advice, "is be true to himself. Be true to where you are from and what has gotten you here. And, he’s doing that."

Oh, and one more thing Te’o counseled where the Heisman is concerned, "bring it home, bring it home."

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