Scan the list of all-time Pac-12 passing leaders, and it reads a lot like a who’s who of some pretty good National Football League quarterbacks.
Names like John Elway, Andrew Luck, Drew Bledsoe, Carson Palmer and Jim Plunkett dot the list.
But as you continue up the list, past those names to the very top of the all-time leaderboard, you find Oregon State’s Sean Mannion, a 2010 graduate of Foothill High School.
Mannion recently finished his final year at Oregon State as the all-time Pac-12 passing leader with 13,600 yards. Former University of Southern California star Matt Barkley is second at 12,327 yards.
The 6-foot-5, 227-pound Mannion also finished as the Pac-12 career leader in completions (1,187) and attempts (1,838). He is in the top 10 all-time for completion percentage (64.58%) and touchdowns (83, one ahead of Luck).
“When I left Foothill, I never dreamed of ending my college career as the all-time leading passer in the Pac-12,” Mannion said. “It’s just crazy for me for a couple of reasons. First, think of all the great quarterbacks that have played in the league — that makes it so humbling and mind-blowing. Second, I think of the time it took with all the players who caught my passes and all the linemen that blocked for me — that is what makes it so special.”
Mannion, who also holds the Pac-12 single season record for passing with 4,662 yards in 2013, started throughout his four-year career for the Beavers, getting 10 starts in his redshirt freshman year. His 3,328 yards and 16 touchdowns that freshman campaign earned him a Freshman All-American Award by the Football Writers of America.
His next year he started well, but he got hurt after the Beavers came out of the gate 4-0 and needed knee surgery. He missed only two games, but never quite regained his mojo.
“That was certainly very tough,” said Mannion of the injury. “You know the team is doing well and then you’re out. I just never got back into a groove that year.”
The rest of the season saw Mannion basically splitting time at quarterback with Cody Vaz, and at the end of the season there was a battle to see who would be the starter leading into the 2013 season.
“That competition was tough, but I used it to make myself work even harder,” explained Mannion. “As I look back at it now, it made me a better player.”
Shortly before the 2013 season, Mannion was named the starter and he never looked back.
“That was a big statistical year,” he said. “We were playing some real good football that year.”
That may be an understatement. Mannion finished the year with 4,662 yards passing and 37 touchdowns. The season firmly planted Mannion on the list of top-notch college quarterbacks and for the first time brought the thought of playing in the NFL to the forefront.
The NFL Advisory Board is a service that presents underclassmen with their prospective NFL Draft grade to assist with their decision about whether to stay in school or turn professional early.
When Mannion got his, it was time for some serious discussion.
“They came out and gave me a grade of a third-round pick, so I needed to really think about it,” said Mannion, who spent a lot of time talking with his father John, a former Foothill coach who now coaches in Silverton, Ore., taking his team to the Oregon state finals this year. “If I am trying to be in the NFL, then I want to be the best player I can possibly be.”
Keeping that in mind, Mannion opted to return to Oregon State for his senior year. Statistically it wasn’t as good as his junior year — as Mannion had lost playmakers like Brandin Cooks to the NFL — but his 3,164 yards passing nearly got a young Beavers team (5-7) into a bowl game.
“I really think it was my best year,” said Mannion, a statement repeatedly echoed by his head coach Mike Riley, who left Oregon State for the University of Nebraska last week. “I may not have thrown for as many yards or touchdowns, but the goal of my return was to improve as a player and I can say now looking back that I am better for having played this year.”
This season also brought to a close Mannion’s run as a three-year team captain at Oregon State. He was the first sophomore voted a captain by the team and the first three-year captain for the Beavers. Passing yards and touchdowns are nice, but the captaincy is where Mannion will be happy to leave his legacy.
“I am as proud of that as anything I have done in sports,” he said. “You want to earn the respect of your teammates and it has been such a special honor to have been voted captain for three years. The flip side is that it comes with more responsibilities. It makes you have your act together all the time and that helped me grow as a player as well.”
Now finished with college, Mannion recently move San Diego to train for the upcoming all-star games, the NFL Combine and the Oregon State Pro Day.
“I am very excited for this next step,” Mannion said. “I was sitting at my parents’ house looking at pictures of me when I was at Foothill and thought, ‘wow, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago when I was there.'”
Mannion was a San Francisco 49ers fan through childhood, and like any person who grew up rooting for a specific team, he would love to be on the Niners. But, at this point he realizes anything can happen when the NFL Draft takes place April 30 to May 2 in Chicago.
“I am hoping over the next few months I get better,” Mannion said. “I am looking for any team that will give me a chance.”
