Marc Wilson (American football)

Not to be confused with Mark Wilson (American football).

Marc Wilson

Position(s) Quarterback Jersey #(s) 6, 15
Born	February 15, 1957 (1957-02-15) (age 54) Bremerton, Washington
Career information
Year(s)	1980–1991
NFL Draft	1980 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15
College	Brigham Young
Professional teams
Oakland/L.A. Raiders (1980-1987) New England Patriots (1989-1990) Los Angeles Raiders (1991)
Career stats
TD-INT	86-102
Yards	14,391
QB Rating	67.7
Stats at NFL.com
Career highlights and awards
All-America (1979) 2× Super Bowl champion (XV, XVIII)
College Football Hall of Fame

Marc Douglas Wilson (born February 15, 1957 in Seattle, Washington) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders and the New England Patriots.

College career

Wilson made his greatest mark playing college football for Brigham Young University, where he was one of the first in BYU's legendary line of quarterbacks. Cougar coach LaVell Edwards operated a passing-oriented offense that allowed his quarterbacks to throw the ball almost every single down. Thus, Wilson was able to pile up huge passing numbers in an era when most teams mainly focused on running the ball.

Marc first got a chance to start in the fifth game of the 1977 season, replacing All-American Gifford Nielsen, who had gone down after four contests with an injury. During that 1977 season, his sophomore year, he threw for seven touchdown passes in one game against Colorado State University, his first start. After that, he started most of BYU's games over the next two-and-a-half seasons, racking up a 22-4 record, though he did yield a few starts to budding star Jim McMahon. In 1979, he threw 250 completions for 3,720 yards and 29 touchdown passes, becoming the school's first consensus All-American. Highlights of his 1979 season included leading the team to an undefeated regular season and a berth in the Holiday Bowl, where he shared the MVP trophy with Indiana University cornerback Tim Wilbur in BYU's 38-37 loss. He finished fourth in the nation in passing efficiency, third in the Heisman voting, and was named the Senior Bowl MVP. Wilson's success paved the way for McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer, and other BYU quarterbacks, all of whom had similar performances in Edwards' system.

Pro football career

In the 1980 NFL Draft, Wilson was selected by the Oakland Raiders. He was a backup to Jim Plunkett on the Raiders' 1980 championship team, then led the team in passing in 1981 before throwing only two passes as a backup to Plunkett in the strike-shortened 1982 season, the team's first in Los Angeles. He took over for Plunkett as the starter midway through the 1983 season but was injured two games later; Plunkett returned and lead the Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984. Despite leading the Raiders to the AFC West title in 1985, Wilson never established himself as an elite NFL quarterback; he threw three interceptions in a home playoff loss to New England that year and never played in the postseason again. He was outplayed and replaced by the aging Plunkett in 1984 and 1986, and in 1987 was the quarterback of record in the Raiders' first losing season since 1965. He never ranked among the top quarterbacks in the NFL, and bowed out after two unproductive seasons with the New England Patriots, the latter being a difficult 1-15 year during which Wilson played with a broken throwing hand and separated non-throwing shoulder the entire season. This was a far cry from his outstanding collegiate career at BYU, when 9- and 10-win seasons were typical. He spent the 1988 preseason with the Green Bay Packers. He also played for the Los Angeles Raiders for the 1991 NFL season.

Notes

• Marc is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Brigham Young University Football Hall of Fame.
• During his time at BYU, he broke 9 NCAA records during his career and tied two others.
• In 1979, he won the Sammy Baugh Trophy as College Passer of the Year.
• Marc went to Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington.

Preceded by Willie Banks Robert W. Dugas Steve Fuller Dan Harrigan James J. Kovach

NCAA Top Five Award Class of 1980 Gregory Kelser Paul B. McDonald R. Scott Neilson Steadman S. Shealy Marc D. Wilson

Succeeded by Darrell Griffith Mark D. Herrmann Donald J. Paige Ronald K. Perry Randy Lee Schleusener

Persondata
Name	Wilson, Marc
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 15, 1957
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death