Marcus Mariota: A Titan’s Story Recap

The Tennessee Titans released a short feature documentary on the legendary Ducks QB Marcus Mariota. He’s the standard that all Oregon quarterbacks past, present, and future are or will be measured by. Such was his immense legacy as a Heisman winner on and off the field. I’ll be breaking down the highlights by parts.

Part 1 - Aloha Spirit

Summary

• The video begins by showing old highlights from Mariota’s youth career while describing what it felt like watching him live from the coach’s perspective.
• Mariota then explains that in Hawaiian / Polynesian culture, family is huge and everyone in the community is a key part in raising a child.
• The director of admissions at St. Louis School describes Mariota’s first steps as a Crusader and his interview process.
• It then cuts to a teacher and the director describing his great personality while a montage of childhood pictures goes on. They give examples of his excellent character by stating that he gave time to everyone including the less popular students and picking up trash off the ground.
• The viewers get to meet Vinny Passas, the QB coach for St. Louis with Mariota showing love. Here’s a quick profile of Mr. Passas when Tua Tagovailoa was in contention for the 2018 Heisman Trophy.
• After that, the video is about the JV coach describing him on the field. The coach then goes on to tell a story about how Marcus wasn’t ready to go one week but was all in the next week. Mariota then leads St. Louis to a state title after taking over the starting job.
• Mariota comes on screen to tell us how much winning the state title for the upperclassmen meant to him.
• Part one ends with the coach saying that Memphis was his Mariota’s first scholarship offer. The state of Tennessee wasn’t done with Marcus just yet as we find out later on.

Part 2 - Oregon Legacy

Summary

• The video starts off with various people around the program (including AD Rob Mullens and Oregon play by play announcer Jerry Allen) describing the athletic gifts of Mariota while different Oregon highlights play on the screen.
• Some of these highlights include a rushing touchdown in those garishly striking pink helmets. Another included a passing touchdown in the glorious 2015 Rose Bowl win over Florida State that started the downfall of the Jimbo Fisher era in Tallahassee.
• The director of admissions at St. Louis makes another appearance stating that because of Mariota, applications skyrocketed with applicants saying they want to be like him.
• The video then cuts to former Oregon coach Helfrich campaigning for Mariota’s Heisman at a press conference and Jerry Allen credits him even further.
• The rest of the video highlights the moment that he won the Heisman and arguably the best Heisman winning speech of all time. In a sense of foreshadowing, Boise State and fellow St. Louis alum Kamalei Correa appears to praise Mariota.

Part 3 - Music City Maestro

Summary

• The final part of the series starts off with the 2015 NFL Draft where NFL commissioner Roger Goodell completely butchers the pronunciation of Mariota’s name.
• This video then proceeds with several Mariota Titans highlights with the dulcet tones of the great Mike Keith providing the play by play. Legend has it that former Jaguars safety Barry Church is still trying to find his way out from the turf at Nissan Stadium. Then there was the pass and catch for a touchdown to himself at Arrowhead Stadium in which part two foreshadowed for us.
• The middle part features his character and humanitarian efforts off the field.
• The latter half has several teammates including former Duck now Titan Hroniss Grasu praise Mariota for his on field work in practice and during games.
• The series ends with several recurring people give predictions for the upcoming 2019 season.

Thoughts

• The series was really well made for a one a little under 30 minutes long.
• It expands upon Mariota’s excellent character and leadership, which we all knew about before.
• I really hope that Mariota is the long term answer for the Titans as he is currently playing out the fifth year option. There’s not a better human being than him. The entire locker room supports him and will go to war with him every day.
• I know that several Ducks fans really don’t like the Titans for what they have done to Marcus but give them a chance this year. I feel like something special is brewing with an offensive coordinator that finally understands him after being around him for so long.
• Titans Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith has been around through multiple coaching changes, system changes, and the like yet everyone seems to love having him on staff. He’s a grinder that could’ve taken the easy way out in life since he is the son of FedEx founder Fred Smith. He willingly chose to go into the hard life that is coaching. Not many heirs to a business fortune even get jobs.