Mark Jensen Explained

Mark Jensen
Birth Date:11 July 1976
Birth Place:Oregon City, Oregon, U.S.
Position1:Kicker
Height Ft:6
Height In:3
Weight Lb:300
College:California
Nfldraftedyear:2003
Nfldraftedround:Undrafted
Playing Years1:2003
Playing Team1:Detroit Lions
Playing Years2:2004
Playing Team2:St. Louis Rams
Playing Years3:2004
Playing Team3:Scottish Claymores
Playing Years4:2004
Playing Team4:Oakland Raiders
Career Footnotes:*Offseason and/or practice squad member only

Mark Jensen (born July 11, 1976 in Oregon City, Oregon) is a former American football placekicker for the National Football League. He spent time with three different NFL teams: the Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders. He also spent one year (2004) in NFL Europe, playing for the now defunct Scottish Claymores.

Jensen served for three years as Cal Football's Director of Player Development. He holds dual American/Danish citizenship.

Early life

Jensen earned first-team Utah All-State two times (1993–1994) at Pleasant Grove High School. In 1993, he kicked a game-winning field goal in the Utah 4A state-championship game to lift Pleasant Grove High School over Judge Memorial High School 18-17. Following his senior campaign, he was named USA Today second-team ALL-American.

Following graduation from high school, Jensen served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Leipzig, Germany.

College career

At the University of California, Berkeley, Jensen was a four-year starter, handling both field goals and kick offs from 1999-2002. Jensen continued in a long line of Cal greats including Ray Wersching, Jim Breech, Doug Brien, Ryan Longwell, and Nick Harris. He holds the Golden Bears’ modern day scoring record with 107 points (2002), consecutive PATs (72) and most PATs in a game (10) Jensen also hold the Cal and Pac-10 record for most field goals in a game (5) versus Air Force in 2002. He converted on field goals of 50 and 51 yards out, registering the fifth and seventh-longest field goals in Golden Bear history.

He graduated with a BA in Development Studies in 2001 after only three years of college. He completed his master's degree in Education (Language, Literacy, Society & Culture emphasis) also at Berkeley.

2002 emerged as one of the nations most prolific kickers. Among his 2002 honors, he was named one of 20 Semi-Finalists for the Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicker Award. He was named the Pac-10 Special teams player of the week after kicking a Pac-10 record 5 field goals versus Air Force. He set a school record for points (107), while his 8.92 ppg average was second in the Pac-10 and 17th nationally. He was First-team 2002 Pac-10 All-Academic. He finished his Cal career as the school's fourth All-Time leading scorer.

Jensen's Cal career statistics:

YearFGFGAXPXPAPTS
199948121324
20001116252658
20011114222255
200219275051107
TOTALS4565109112244

NFL and post-NFL careers

Jensen signed a free agent contract with the Detroit Lions following the 2003 NFL Draft, but was waived during training camp after injuring his groin versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. While with Detroit, he connected on a 33-yard field goal versus theSteelers as well as going 2-2 on extra points. A year later, he was signed by the St. Louis Rams and subsequently allocated to play in NFL Europe. After handling all kick-off duties for the Scottish Claymores, Jensen returned to St. Louis only to be subsequently released. He was signed immediately by the Oakland Raiders and joined them for camp. Once again, Jensen reinjured his groin and after taking an injury settlement was released by the Raiders. Jensen has also had tryouts with the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, and NY Jets.

He worked in student-athlete development for Cal Football where he oversaw all aspects "off the field" for Cal players, including academics, housing, community relations, alumni relations, player employment, and admissions.

Jensen established Mark Jensen Kicking, which led to working with hundreds of high school, college, and professional kickers and punters. He tutored NFL kickers: Andrew Franks, Giorgio Tavecchio, Justin Medlock, Chris Kluwe.

He now is in sales for Stryker Corporation.[1] In 2016 was named Stryker’s #1 overall hip rep in the country, winning the prestigious Grand Champions Award.

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-jensen/4/148/779 Mark Jensen