NFL Tickets
It will be tough enough for the next starting quarterback for the Oregon Ducks to follow in Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota’s footsteps. He’s only the best QB Oregon’s ever seen (sorry, Joey Harrington and Dan Fouts — you two got pushed down a spot). Imagine if he had a little brother who played football as well and decided to go to Oregon. How much of a spotlight would get put on that kid? Well, we’re about to find out.
Matthew Mariota (DE) little brother of Marcus Mariota will sign LOI to #Oregon at @PIAA_Hawaii Signing Day Event on Feb. 4 #808Represent
— Rob DeMello (@RobDeMelloKHON) January 27, 2015
Okay, so Matthew Mariota is not a quarterback. And he’s not getting a scholarship (yet). But it’s very obvious that he will be the most watched walk-on defensive end/linebacker in the history of Oregon football.
According to the KHON-TV report, Matty Mariota (exact potential nickname still in the works) is 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, an inch shorter but about 10 pounds heavier than his quarterback-playing older brother. That’s not the only football difference. While in high school, Marcus was named Hawaii offensive player of the year and league MVP. Matt was an all-league honorable mention. Marcus got at least three stars from every scouting system out there. Matt doesn’t have a player page.
Maybe it’s a favor to Marcus or a thank-you to the Mariota family, but Matthew is apparently going to be a “preferred” walk-on in Eugene. Not knowing the difference between a regular and preferred walk-on, I had to look up the difference.
There are two different types of preferred walk-ons, and it isn’t specified which one Matt will be. The best option is that even though the player isn’t on scholarship, he’s guaranteed to be one of the 85 players that can be participate in practice before school actually starts. So that means he’s there on Day 1 of fall camp and has a better chance to impress the coaches and become an integral part of the team.
If he doesn’t get a guaranteed roster spot, that means he can’t start practicing with the team until school actually starts, meaning there’s very little difference between a preferred and regular walk-on. Since Oregon starts classes in very late September, a non-roster spot walk-on can’t start practicing with the team until after the Ducks have played four games, including the conference opener. That makes it even tougher for those walk-ons to earn any playing time.
I would suspect that the Ducks would give Matthew one of those 85 guaranteed roster spots. Sometimes it works out to do a favor like that. The best example is the Los Angeles Dodgers, who just for the heck of it, took the son of a childhood friend of long-time manager Tommy Lasorda in the 62nd round one year. That favor to Lasorda turned out to be Mike Piazza. He had a decent career, don’t you think?
If Matthew Mariota is half as good of a football player as Mike Piazza was a baseball player, then the Ducks got a heck of a steal. Heck, the Ducks will put him in the Oregon Hall of Fame if he’s half as good as his brother.
Alex Drude is a Pac-12 writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Alex_Drude. “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google+.
Share 
