Oregon Ducks open the Marcus Mariota Performance Center

The greatest QB in Oregon Ducks history gets a campus facility named after him, the Marcus Mariota Performance Center.

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If being handed three (Maxwell, Davey O’Brien, Heisman) of college football’s highest awards for a quarterback isn’t enough, then having a building named after you might do the trick.

The second overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft, Marcus Mariota (Oregon career: 10,786 pass yards, 105 PTD, 14 INT; 2,237 rush yards, 29 RTD), can now add something to his resume.

After a year or so of deliberations and pre-production, the University of Oregon unmasked a performance center, which pays tribute to No. 8, a week before the 2016 season kicks off.

While keeping the college’s main booster, Nike, in mind during construction, Phil and Penny Knight added splashes of Mariota’s heritage into the 29,000-square-foot complex, nestled in the campus’ Casanova Center.

The original focal points of the complex concerned upgrades to the locker and equipment rooms, both accented by overhead beams of mint-colored light.

Another feature shown in the above video refers to a concept that’s evolving in today’s college football facilities — nap rooms. Though the popularity of rest-and-recovery promotes safety in terms of injury prevention, Oregon’s nap room resembles something plucked straight out of the testing room from the film Men in Black.

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And while tackling robots are intruding the college and NFL fields recently, Oregon re-establishes the sport’s art of natural aggression by introducing a boxing ring, formulated by one of the university’s sports scientists Hugh Fullagar.

Like many other college football programs, who are beefing up their locker rooms with barber shops and contemporary lounges, the Mariota Performance Center also serves an indirect purpose — attracting recruits.

After all, the college football landscape has undergone a renaissance over the last half-dozen years. Most schools within the Power 5 conferences aren’t relying on the sole influence that social media plays in recruiting, but by the induced psychology of creating lavish, state-of-the-art performance centers.

What better way than to experience the luxury of a professional athlete without signing a contract?