The narrative with Marcus Mariota has generally been that it will take him two, three, or four years to get comfortable working in a "pro style offense". That sounds like a great theory, but what do we have to check that against? How do we know whether it will take that amount of time, shorter, or longer? Well, we could look at Jameis Winston, since he played in a "pro style" system. Jameis Winston started the first game of his career on September 2, 2013, as a redshirt freshman and was excellent. So we can assume it took one year of running the scout team behind EJ Manuel for Winston to become pro ready. And this is in college where Winston was a very serious student who went to class and did lots of homework and assignments for his non-football curriculum. Additionally, NCAA rules prohibit players from practicing more than 20 hours per week and only during certain times of the year. So if Winston was able to become a pro style QB in a year in which football wasn't his #1 job and there was never any intention of him playing in a game, why do people think it will take Mariota considerably longer than that when that will be the only thing he has to work on and coaches will be preparing him to start the day he gets there?
