Oregon's Jeff Lockie filling leadership void since departure of Marcus Mariota

Oregon quarterback Jeff Lockie has assumed a more prominent and vocal leadership position with the Ducks, as he seeks to fill the void left by the departure of former starter Marcus Mariota.

Free to fly under the radar when he served as Mariota's backup, Lockie has since been thrust into service as the program's de facto leader on offense, assuming greater responsibilities for his teammates.

"When we had guys like Marcus and Hroniss (Grasu), it’s hard to be a vocal leader around those guys," Lockie said Monday, as reported by Rob Moseley of the team's official website. "You're a leader, but in a totally different light; you’re there to pick a guy up, be more of a support system. Now you’ve got to take your leadership in a different direction.

"There’s no more, 'Hey, they can look to those guys and you can hang back and be a friend all the time,'" he added. "They're looking to you, so you’ve (got) to be this and this and that. It changes."

Lockie's emergence up the depth chart, though, remains uncertain.

Former Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams transferred to Oregon earlier this offseason, seeking to wrestle the starting position away from Lockie.

However, Adams has been beset by academic issues and said he must pass an exam later this week if he hopes to play for the Ducks this season.