Oregon Ducks Legend Marcus Mariota Reveals Johnny Manziel Recruiting Story

Former Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota revealed a recruiting story of him and eventual Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Johnny Manziel. Both quarterbacks won the Heisman Trophy, and they both worked out for Oregon coach Chip Kelly in Eugene, together.

Marcus Mariota waits for a television interview after the Ducks' 44-10 win over the Buffaloes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene on Saturday, November 22, 2014. / Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Current Washington Commanders quarterback and former Oregon Ducks star Marcus Mariota was interviewed on "Bussin' With The Boys," a sports podcast hosted by former NFL players Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, and Mariota revealed the story behind his recruiting process and how it involves eventual Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.

As the story goes, former Oregon coach Chip Kelly was recruiting Mariota and Manziel in the 2011 recruiting class. In his conversation with Lewan and Compton, Mariota spoke about his time at a recruiting camp in Eugene that eventually led to a workout with Manziel.

"I had been there for two days. I'm in pads, like doing all this stuff and Johnny (Manziel) shows up, unpadded, t-shirt and shorts, goes in there, says they're gonna do a workout with him. Coach (Chip) Kelly hasn't really even talked to me. I've been here for two days. He's like, ‘Hey, why don't you just come in, just do a workout with Johnny?’ And I'm mad cause I'm like, 'Johnny's not even been here.' Like I was just not feeling the love, basically," said Mariota.

Marcus Mariota waits for a television interview after the Ducks' 44-10 win over the Buffaloes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene on Saturday, November 22, 2014. / Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"We run a 40, we're throwing. The workout unbelievable. Like, I mean, I can still remember to this day, I don't think a ball touched the ground. And it's funny to think, you know, 10 years later or whatever it is, but like, you had two Heisman Trophy winners sitting there going through a workout together," Mariota continued.

Marcus Mariota almost didn’t choose Oregon because Johnny Manziel showed up to a recruiting visit and didn’t even have to throw pic.twitter.com/evpAcNcqCx

— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) April 22, 2025

As the former Oregon legend noted, Manziel won the Heisman Trophy in 2012 with Texas A&M, two years before Mariota did so with the Ducks in 2014. The two worked out at Oregon in the summer of 2010, and Manziel committed to the Ducks shortly after. Mariota revealed his frustrations:

"I was so mad because I'm like, he hasn't been here. I've been here a couple days, like I've been talking to the coaches. Like he just commits on the spot, and I don't even have a chance to commit or whatever. And I was like upset about it," Mariota told Lewan and Compton.

Mariota is revered in Oregon, but he said he felt like playing for the Washington Huskies and coach Steve Sarkisian after Manziel committed to the Ducks.

"We're on the plane ride home and I told my mom like, ‘I want to go to Washington,'" Mariota said. "I had got an offer from Washington. Steve Sarkisian was up there and Sark was like, he rolled out the red carpet. I was like, ‘I'm going there. I'm settled.’ So we're sitting there on the plane and my mom's like, ‘You really want to go to Washington?’ I was like, ‘No.’"

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"I mean, Oregon was like everywhere I wanted to be, and she's like, ‘At some point in time you're going to have to compete, so you might as well compete wherever you go and you might as well go where you want to go.’ And she told me that, and that was it. I committed when we got home and kind of the rest is history," Mariota continued.

Mariota is the only player in Oregon Ducks history to win the Heisman Trophy, and he was also the first player from Hawaii and the first Polynesian player to win the award. While there was a small chance that he never plays for Kelly and the Ducks, Mariota also talked about how much he liked Oregon as a recruit.

"I was so set on being an Oregon Duck because of guys that had played before me, like there was a guy named Jeremiah Masoli who went to my high school had played quarterback here. And I just remember watching the Ducks as a kid, and I was like, that's where I want to be," Mariota said. "So, for my mom to say that to me in that point in time, I was like, 'Well, yeah, I might as well compete and go where I want to go.'"

Jan 3, 2013; Glendale, AZ, USA; Oregon Ducks coach Chip Kelly at press conference after the 2013 Fiesta Bowl against the Kansas State Wildcats at University of Phoenix Stadium. Oregon defeated Kansas 35-17. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Mariota won Oregon fans over with his play on the field, but his character and demeanor always felt equally impressive. Considered a private person, Mariota opened up in the conversation with Lewan, his left tackle for five years with the Tennessee Titans, and Compton, who also spent a season with Mariota and Lewan in Tennessee.

Lewan asked Mariota about how it feels to see his Heisman Trophy and the Hawaiian Islands represented inside the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center as part of Oregon's football facilities. Compton joked that they were in Mariota's house.

The former Duck touched on his experiences in Eugene, saying it was hard not to be emotional about that time.

"I came here I was 17 years old, like didn't have much thought about what was going on outside of Hawaii and come to this place in Eugene. I was so homesick my first year," Mariota told Lewan and Compton. "But like, they took me kind of under their wing, regardless of who it was. Like it was people in the community, it was a staff. A lot of the trainers are still here that I was here with. So they really kind of helped me transition into who I was."

"It does get a little emotional cause it's such a part of you, and it's kind of like I said, it's surreal. To think that middle of the Pacific, some kid gets to come here and become the only Heisman Trophy winner. I don't even know what the odds are of that. That's wild. So, it kind of blows my mind. Still, to this day even walking through there, it is, it's just surreal," Mariota continued.

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