As Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota prepares for what will likely be his final college game, the question that hangs over him for the pros is how he will adapt as a pocket passer, ESPN analysts said Tuesday.

"I guess, looking at his next step, everybody is going to evaluate his skill set and I think if there is going to be a question mark about him — and I think it is fair — it is: How does he transition from running a system that he’s running now where it is up-tempo and a lot of zone reads and running the football and making throws very accurately to sitting in a pocket and being under center and taking snaps and reading a defense," ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said in a media conference call.

"It is a very, very different game in the NFL."

Mariota, the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner who leads the 13-1 Ducks against Ohio State on Monday in the College Football Playoff National Championship game in Arlington, Texas, has operated out of a spread formation.

Herbstreit said, "I’m not saying he can’t make that transition, (but) I think it will be the big question mark because a lot of guys who have come out of college who have run similiar systems, there’s only one or two who have been able to make the transition to the NFL and be effective at the next level."

ESPN Draft analyst Todd McShay projects Mariota to be a high first-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft (April 30-May 2) and the first quarterback taken if he forgoes his senior season, but said both Mariota and Florida State’s Jameis Winston "have red flags."

"He (Mariota) has the tools to play in a more traditional pro-style offense, he just has — and it sounds so obvious — but he doesn’t have that experience," McShay said.

"The one thing I don’t see with him is the anticipation as a passer," McShay said. "It’s just because in that offense, there’s not a lot of opportunity to show that. The other day (in the Rose Bowl against Florida State), he missed some throws he needed to make. You see a few of those every game. No one’s perfect. But Marcus misses a higher percentage of intermediate and vertical throws than you’d like to see, ideally. And you combine that with the fact that (in the Ducks’ offense) he doesn’t have to anticipate and throw to a spot."

McShay said, "Marcus Mariota is still a very good prospect, but he needs to develop."

McShay said, "Obviously, he’s a phenomenal athlete and he can extend plays. One thing I love about him is how quick he goes through reads and how quick he operates. In that offense, there’s no time to think and there’s no time to process. You just have to react and he understands that offense so well that he’s able to make one read off the run, one read to the screen, one read to the receiver going down the seam … He does all that in less than two seconds. He really is quick with his thought process, with his instincts and with his recognition skills, which are important."

Herbstreit said, "we are huge fans of Marcus — not only his game, but the way he runs this offense. How can you not be a fan of him as an individual, the way he is so selfless and the way he has led his team to so many big wins? Almost to a fault he is a guy that backs away from the spotlight and is, really, more in a comfort zone when he’s out there just being one of the guys."