So far, so good for Marcus Mariota.
The Titans rookie quarterback survived Tennessee's first rookie minicamp session on Friday and managed to impress coach Ken Whisenhunt along the way.
"He has a great understanding of the (playbook)," Whisenhunt said. "A lot of the concepts, those kind of things, he's really working hard to try to pick up the base parts of our offense. It's always different when you get on the field."
The pressing question around Mariota is whether he can make the transition from Oregon's high-paced spread offense to handling a huddle and lining up under center. The rookie passer told reporters that the biggest difference taking snaps at the line was trying to see the secondary over the defense.
"I don't see that as a problem," Whisenhunt said of Mariota lining up under center. "He's put a lot of work in. He seems pretty good. I mean, until we get into a game and you get the A-gap blitzers in there or people are pressuring, you don't know how they are going to handle it."
Whisenhunt said Mariota made his share of "good plays" in the session, adding: "There's obviously parts of it that he's very comfortable with and other parts where it's new to him."
The Titans have been impressed with Mariota's classroom work, something the No. 2 overall pick was praised for in the lead-up to the draft. It's far too early to judge his progress after one, low-octane rookie camp outing, but the former Heisman winner passed his first test.
"It is definitely tough to play that position at this level," Whisenhunt said. "The adjustments, what you have to see, what you have to react to. There's no substitute for getting on the field and going through it. He's doing as good a job as he can do."
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