This works out to be pretty fitting.
Marcus Mariota, Chip Kelly get Oregon reunion in NFL clash between Commanders, Raiders originally appeared on The Sporting News
It just kind of feels right that when Marcus Mariota takes the field for his first NFL start in a few years, the man who raised him as a college quarterback will be in the building, too.
Mariota is starting for the Washington Commanders on Sunday, standing in for the injured Jayden Daniels.
They're taking on the Las Vegas Raiders, who have a familiar face as offensive coordinator: Chip Kelly.
Kelly was Mariota's head coach at Oregon when the Ducks took the country by storm, and now a dozen years later, they're adversaries trying to put up more points than each other in an intriguing Week 3 contest.
Mariota wasn't a starter until his senior year of high school, but he attended an Oregon camp in the summer preceding that and caught the eye of the Ducks.
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Kelly offered Mariota a scholarship before he had ever started a varsity game (and then he went 11-1 in a dominant senior season that validated it all).
At Oregon, Mariota was a Heisman Trophy winner, in addition to essentially every top award a college player can claim, including The Sporting News Player of the Year Award.
He ascended to that from an immediate fast start, having been Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in his first season and then sweeping the awards circuit two years later.
In his time with the Ducks, Mariota was 36-5, threw for 10,796 yards with 105 touchdowns, only tossed 14 interceptions, and ran for another 2,237 yards and 29 TDs.
Kelly and Mariota were always in sync, and opponents could rarely stop the Ducks' offense.
They'll be on opposite sides Sunday, but those memories will always be there as one of the best eras in Oregon football history.
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