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.
Nicole, besides cheerleading, also wrestled in high school, and played soccer when she was younger.
Nicole also has done some modeling, according to some blogs. But neither she nor Mariota have social media accounts, although Watase does have a Flickr account.
She’s reportedly a pre-marine biology major at Oregon. Mariota is set to graduate with a degree in general science this winter, finishing his core requirements in just over three years.
He’s slated to declare for the 2015 NFL Draft, though he has not officially done so.
Mariota did reveal his favorite date spots in an interview with Gridiron Girl.
“I like simple movie and a dinner, dinner is really anywhere back home,” he said.
He also answered why he doesn’t use social media.
“For me, social media is something people either use to brand themselves or get into trouble with,” he said. “For me, personally, I don’t want people to know what I’m doing 24/7, or I don’t really like people seeing pictures of me or what I’ve been doing.”
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