Mariota Wins Camp, Maxwell Awards
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
ORLANDO, Fla. — The most heralded season ever by an Oregon football player attracted more awards Thursday.
UO junior quarterback Marcus Mariota was named national player of the year by the Walter Camp Football Foundation on Thursday afternoon. Later in the day, at ESPN's Home Depot College Football Awards show, Mariota was honored with another player of the year designation, the Maxwell Award, and also the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award.
"The greatest thing about him is, he improved in a ton of areas while remaining 100 percent true to who he is," UO coach Mark Helfrich said, "which is a humble, tough, competitive worker."
In addition, Mariota and cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu were named first-team all-Americans by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the first of the five most prestigious all-America teams to be announced this winter. Center Hroniss Grasu made the second team.
Ekpre-Olomu was also in attendance for Thursday's awards show, as a finalist for the Thorpe Award as defensive back of the year. That honor went to Gerod Holliman of Louisville.
Mariota had previously been named Polynesian College Football Player of the Year and also winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which he'll presented with Friday in a ceremony in Baltimore. Then Mariota will be off Saturday morning to New York City, where he will attend the Heisman Trophy presentation as a finalist.
For the Walter Camp award, Mariota was selected over fellow Heisman finalists Amari Cooper, a receiver from Alabama, and Melvin Gordon, a running back from Wisconsin, along with TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin and Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright III. Gordon and Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott were the other Maxwell Award finalists, and Prescott and Boykin were the other finalists for the O'Brien Award.
Mariota led the Ducks to an 11-1 regular season in 2014, followed by a Pac-12 championship game victory over Arizona that avenged their only loss of the year. Entering a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup against Florida State in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, Mariota has 38 passing touchdowns with just two interceptions, 14 rushing touchdowns and the nation's best passer rating (186.33).
At a press conference prior to Thursday's ceremony, Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher expressed admiration for Mariota's touchdown-to-interception ratio. "To make so many big plays and still protect the ball at the same time, that's unbelievable," Fisher said.
