By decision making, I mean the fact that he always makes the right read and always makes the right decision. A large number of his plays have two run reads and two pass reads (and yes, sometimes even three pass reads), and those reads need to be made incredibly quickly. Mariota makes the right read over...and over...and over.
By demeanor, I mean that he's unshakable. A bad play happens, he comes right back. He makes a few bad throws, comes back and completes 11 in a row. Gets a big hit, jumps right back up and congratulates the guy on the hit (weirds defenders out). Ask the UCLA guys - they were shocked last year when he got hit out of bounds, and he jumped up and yelled to the ref, "Don't throw on that, that was a legit hit!" He sprained his knee in that game and no one even knew, and he played the next four games on that sprained knee without missing a down. Against WSU the whole team was falling apart after the injuries and he got sacked 7 times...and still completed 21-25 for 350 yards, 5 TDs, and 0 INTs. He's always ready for easy games, always ready for big games, always looks cool as ice.
And yes, off the field every single one of his teammates respects the heck out of him, he never gets in any trouble or does the slightest thing to hurt his team, and everyone would die for him out there because they know he puts his whole heart out for them.
