College football players prefer Marcus Mariota over Jameis Winston

Sep 14, 2013; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) throws the ball in the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 14, 2013; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) throws the ball in the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports /
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ESPN The Magazine polled 95 college football players and got some interesting feedback. 44 percent of the players polled said they would rather play for Oregon’s Marcus Mariota over Florida State’s Jameis Winston. 44 percent also said that they think Mariota will win the Heisman Trophy.

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43 percent of players said they would pick Winston as their quartback and 13 percent said they would choose UCLA’s Brett Hundley. Just 24 percent of players said they thought Winston would repeat for the Heisman Trophy while nine percent would select Ohio State’s Braxton Miller.

The graphic even had a couple quotes like this one from an anonymous Big 12 player:

"“Mariota and Winston are super-stars, but I’d worry Winston would have an incident in November that derails the season.”"

Harsh or fair?

Mariota has 6,342 yards, 63 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions in his first two season at Oregon.

The poll continued to ask who would win the College Football Playoff to which 37 percent said Alabama, which was the highest. Followed by Alabama was Florida State with 24 percent of the votes and Oregon with 15 percent. Continuing with the playoff, only 27 percent of players agreed that playing in a bowl game means less because of the playoff.

Only 65 percent of players would have voted for Jameis Winston to win the 2013 Heisman. Other candidates last year included Boston College’s running back Andre Williams and Auburn running back Tre Mason.

A whopping 80 percent of players polled think that Nick Saban’s $7 million contract is just right with 20 percent saying it was too much.

63 percent of players also said that they think college football players are more likely to be charged with a crime rather than  non-football players.

Shots continued to fire at Jameis Winston where one anonymous PAC-12  player was quoted saying, “I second-guess the NCAA. Why doesn’t he [Winston] have enough money to get crab legs?” This was placed under an illustration of Winston with a crab bib and crab leg eating tools in his hand.

After the players poll, the magazine polled 300 recruits where 73 percent said they would select a program that had an openly gay player on their roster. 46 percent of recruits also said that a school has tried to sell them on good-looking girls.

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