Nicole Watase is the longtime sweetheart of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota--the pair were dating since high school.
But it appears they split sometime last year, as the QB said during a Pac 12 podcast in October 2014 that he’s single and not looking to get into a relationship.
“I’m not looking to get into a relationship any time soon, but obviously it’s a lot of fun to be able to meet people and go through life and experience college,” he said.
Watase also attends Oregon, and the pair had been dating since going to junior prom together in Hawaii.
Watase was a cheerleader at Sacred Hearts Academy there, an all-girls Catholic School. The cheerleaders at the academy would cheer at Saint Louis High School football games, where Mariota was a quarterback.
“Marcus took Nicole to his junior prom, and they’ve pretty much been together ever since,” Nicole’s mother Karen Watase, a former MidWeek employee, told Midweek in 2012.
“And then his senior year, he was the quarterback and she was cheerleading for Sacred Hearts, which cheers for Saint Louis, so they have this classic, sweet storybook thing. He’s such a polite, respectful young man, any parent who has a daughter would be happy to have him dating their daughter.”
Mariota expressed his appreciation for his then-girlfriend, saying that she helps him unwind after games.
“I love her to death. She’s here now and I’m happy she’s here. She’s the one, after the Washington State game, I was pretty sore, and she helped work out the kinks,” he said.
