Marcus Mariota Wins 2014 Walter Camp Player of the Year Award

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota is the 2014 recipient of the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award as the top player in college football.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation announced the award on its website:

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University of Oregon redshirt junior quarterback Marcus Mariota (Honolulu, HI) has been selected as the 2014 Walter Camp Player of the Year. The 48th recipient of the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, Mariota is the first Oregon player to earn the award. He is also the eighth player from a Pac-12 school to win.

“Marcus Mariota’s consistency and overall performance for the high-scoring Ducks has been spectacular,” Foundation president James Monico said. “We are pleased to recognize him and join an impressive list of past Player of the Year recipients.”

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Mariota beat out fellow finalists Amari Cooper (Alabama), Melvin Gordon (Wisconsin), Trevone Boykin (TCU) and Scooby Wright III (Arizona) for the honor. He joins a list of winners that includes Archie Griffin, Barry Sanders, Desmond Howard and Larry Fitzgerald, among others.

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston won the award in 2013.

Mariota is the driving force behind the Ducks' 12-1 record, which was good enough to earn them a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff. They enter the four-team tournament as the No. 2 seed and will take on Winston and the Seminoles in the semifinals.

The redshirt junior has posted truly eye-popping numbers in his third season as the starter in Eugene. He's thrown for more than 3,700 yards with 38 passing touchdowns and just two interceptions. He's also added over 650 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground. He even has a receiving touchdown.

At least some of that success can be contributed to the high-flying Oregon offensive approach, of course. Bob Glauber of Newsday doesn't think it's fair to call him a system quarterback, though:

Being placed in a promising position helps, but Mariota deserves a boatload of credit for reaching an incredible level of efficiency running the offense. His decision-making skills and reads have been close to flawless for most of the campaign.

That's why the Walter Camp Award is one of several individual honors he's likely to receive. Most notably, he's the widely assumed front-runner to take home the Heisman Trophy, which will be handed out on Saturday night.

Mariota isn't sure how to react to the huge increase in the level of attention. He summed it up quite succinctly for Andrew Greif of The Oregonian.

"Everything that's going on right now," Mariota said, "is surreal."

Things are only going to get more intense in the weeks and months ahead. First, the other awards followed by likely assuming the role as the most coveted prospect in the 2015 NFL draft.

But first, there's still work to do with the Ducks. After collecting the hardware, Mariota and his teammates will begin preparing to face the unbeaten, reigning champion Seminoles. A clash with either Alabama or Ohio State would then await in the title game should they advance.

For Oregon to emerge as the champion, Mariota must continue to perform on the level that allowed him to walk away with the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.