Marcus Mariota's backup, Jeff Lockie, plays role perfectly
LOS ANGELES — In the sense that the grass is always greener, the most popular player on nearly every roster is the backup quarterback.
This is not the case at Oregon.
Oregon, home to Marcus Mariota, the Heisman Trophy winner and, yes, the most popular player on campus. For good reason: Mariota has been not just the finest player in college football this season but the most accomplished player in program history, one who not only lifted the Ducks' first Heisman but has Oregon within two wins of its first national championship.
In the background stands Jeff Lockie, a 6-2, 200-pound sophomore from Alamo, Calif., who serves as the Ducks' clipboard holder, scout-team leader and garbage-time contributor — while doubling as Mariota's weight-room partner and confidant.
In Mariota's shadow, Lockie is not the most popular player on campus; he is Oregon's human victory cigar, however, and to the Ducks' coaching staff, the perfect backup to the perfect quarterback.
Lockie made 27 attempts this fall, his second season in the role as Mariota's reserve. All 27 of Lockie's passes came in the third and fourth quarters, all in wins; all 27 of those attempts, in fact, came with Oregon ahead by 15 or more points.
"Anytime I was in at the end of the games, that means we were winning," he said. "So everyone was happy."
To Oregon's offensive coaches, Lockie's importance goes far beyond his mop-up work in the Ducks' many lopsided wins on the road to the College Football Playoff.
For starters, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said, Lockie doesn't need a high number of snaps during practice to grasp the intricacies of Oregon's blur-like offensive system. That Lockie excels in his off-field preparation limits the number of repetitions he needs in drills, freeing the Ducks' coaching staff to focus on other players, plays and schemes.
Like Mariota, Lockie is easy to coach, offensive coordinator Scott Frost said. Both only need to told things once; for both, once is enough.
"He's been perfect for what we've had," Frost said. "He's a completely reliable, extremely intelligent, very unselfish kid who's been Marcus' biggest fan in a hundred ways that people don't know about. He's been perfect for that role, and I think he's relished it."
There are good things and bad about playing second fiddle to the best player in college football. The good: Lockie, despite not seeing any major game action, has learned the trade from a master.
The bad: Lockie has ridden the bench since stepping on campus — and he also has learned his physical limitations when going throw for throw with Mariota, as would the overwhelming number of quarterbacks in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
"We're two different quarterbacks," Lockie said. "I mean, I don't think any two quarterbacks are going to be similar. And we have little bit different strengths and weaknesses. But obviously he has a lot of strengths."
And as Lockie is well aware, there will be no replicating Mariota — not this season, and not in 2015 and beyond, should he ascend to the starting role in the offseason among a crowded race of contenders for the Ducks' successor under center.
"Every quarterback in the country wants to play," he said. "There's five or six quarterbacks on 100 or so teams. Only one can play at a time. It's just the way it is. But to wait three years and learn from him and learn from our coaches, to have the opportunity to play at a university like this, I think is more than enough."
