Mark Gronowski
American football player (born 2001)
Mark Gronowski (born October 5, 2001) is an American professional football quarterback for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and Iowa Hawkeyes.
01Early life
Gronowski grew up in Naperville, Illinois and attended Neuqua Valley High School. As a senior, he completed 132 of 194 pass attempts for 1,663 yards with 15 touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for 846 yards and 12 touchdowns. Gronowski committed to play college football at South Dakota State, which was his only Division I scholarship offer, over offers from Butler and Valparaiso, which play in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League, and from Division II Quincy and Bemidji State. He also had offers to walk-on at Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Stanford.
02College career
South Dakota State
Gronowski's freshman season at South Dakota State (SDSU) was postponed from the fall to the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was named the Jackrabbits starting quarterback going into his freshman season. Gronowski passed for 1,584 yards and 15 touchdowns and also rushed for 577 yards and seven touchdowns. He was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) Offensive Player of the Year, as well as the conference Freshman and Newcomer of the Year, at the end of the season. South Dakota State advanced to the 2021 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game, but Gronowski suffered a serious knee injury on the first offensive drive of the game and the team lost 23-21 to Sam Houston State. He used a medical redshirt for the 2021 fall season to recover from his injury.
Gronowski returned as SDSU's starting quarterback at the beginning of the 2022 season. He was named second-team All-MVFC as the Jackrabbits returned to the FCS National Championship Game. Gronowski was named the games Most Valuable Player after dominating the Bison, completing 14 of 21 pass attempts for 223 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 57 yards and one touchdown in a 45-21 victory over North Dakota State. He finished the season with 2,967 passing yards and 26 touchdowns with five interceptions and also rushed for 408 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Gronowski won the Walter Payton Award as a junior. South Dakota State repeated as FCS national champions and he repeated as the Most Valuable Player of the FCS Championship Game after completing 13-of-21 passes for 175 yards and one touchdown with an interception and rushing eight times for 62 yard and one touchdown in a 23-3 win against Montana. Gronowski finished the season with 3,058 passing yard and 29 touchdown passes while also rushing for 402 yards and eight touchdowns. On December 29, 2024, Gronowski entered the transfer portal.
Iowa
On January 7, 2025, Gronowski announced that he would transfer to Iowa. He was named the Hawkeyes' starting quarterback entering the 2025 season.
Gronowski was selected to play in the 2026 East-West Shrine Bowl, and was selected as that year's offensive MVP.
Statistics
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| FCS/NCAA record | |
| Led the FCS | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | |||
| 2020 | South Dakota State | 10 | 10 | 8-2 | 108 | 188 | 57.7 | 1,565 | 8.3 | 15 | 3 | 151.1 | 83 | 577 | 7.0 | 7 | |
| 2021 | South Dakota State | 0 | 0 | , | DNP (Injury-ACL) | ||||||||||||
| 2022 | South Dakota State | 15 | 15 | 14-1 | 232 | 356 | 65.2 | 2,967 | 8.3 | 26 | 5 | 156.5 | 111 | 408 | 3.7 | 12 | |
| 2023 | South Dakota State | 15 | 15 | 15-0 | 209 | 307 | 68.8 | 3,058 | 9.9 | 29 | 5 | 179.7 | 93 | 402 | 4.3 | 8 | |
| 2024 | South Dakota State | 15 | 15 | 12-3 | 206 | 338 | 60.9 | 2,721 | 8.1 | 23 | 7 | 146.9 | 98 | 380 | 3.9 | 10 | |
| 2025 | Iowa | 13 | 13 | 9-4 | 166 | 262 | 63.4 | 1,741 | 6.6 | 10 | 7 | 126.4 | 130 | 545 | 4.2 | 16 | |
| FCS career | 55 | 55 | 49−6 | 755 | 1,188 | 63.6 | 10,308 | 8.7 | 93 | 20 | 158.9 | 385 | 1,767 | 4.6 | 37 | ||
| FBS career | 13 | 13 | 9−4 | 166 | 262 | 63.4 | 1,741 | 6.6 | 10 | 7 | 126.4 | 130 | 545 | 4.2 | 16 | ||
| Career | 68 | 68 | 58−10 | 922 | 1,450 | 63.6 | 12,049 | 8.3 | 103 | 27 | 152.8 | 515 | 2,312 | 4.5 | 53 | ||
03Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | Wingspan | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 2+1⁄8 in (1.88 m) | 226 lb (103 kg) | 32+3⁄8 in (0.82 m) | 10+1⁄2 in (0.27 m) | 6 ft 5+3⁄4 in (1.97 m) | 4.71 s | 1.60 s | 2.68 s | 4.29 s | 7.00 s | 39.0 in (0.99 m) | 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m) | |
| All values from Pro Day | ||||||||||||
Miami Dolphins
Gronowski signed with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent on May 8, 2026. He was waived by the Dolphins on August 7, then re-signed nine days later. On August 30, Gronowski was waived as part of final roster cuts and re-signed to the practice squad. On September 1, he was released.
Houston Texans
On September 8, 2026, Gronowski was signed to the Houston Texans practice squad.
04Personal life
Gronowski's father, Ray Gronowski, played quarterback at Drake University. His older sister Sarah played softball at Butler.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Mark Gronowski”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- 2023-0916-Mark Gronowski.jpg by Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0
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