Gregory S. Mark (born July 7, 1967) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He was drafted by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in the third round of the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Marq ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. Mark played in the NFL for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. Mark was a defensive line coach for the Hurricanes from 1996 to 2005. Born in

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.

, Mark grew up in

Merchantville Merchantville is a borough in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 3,821,Pennsauken High School Pennsauken High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, Pennsauken Township, Camden County, New Jersey, Camden ...

College career

Mark played

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

for the Miami Hurricanes. Mark was one of the players in Jimmy Johnson's first recruiting class. From 1986 to 1989, Greg Mark anchored one of the most punishing defensive lines in University of Miami football history, as well as in college football. Mark's five-year career at Miami culminated with First-team All-America honors by Kodak and the Associated Press in 1989, as well as a semifinalist nod for the prestigious Lombardi Award. Mark was also selected to play in both the Hula Bowl in Hawaii and East/West Shrine Game in Palo Alto, CA. Mark was also an important part of two national championship teams at UM, in 1987 and 1989. He finished his career with an overall record of 55–5, 35 starts, 253 tackles, 95 quarterback pressures and 34.5 total sacks. His sack total currently ranks him 2nd on the all-time UM career sack list. Mark was a player on teams that went to 5 New Year's Day bowl 2 Sugar Bowl, 2 Orange Bowl and 1 Fiesta Bowl.

Professional career

Mark was drafted by Bill Parcels of the

in the third round of the

. While with the Giants he was moved to the interior line and asked to play a two gap nose guard. He was released by the Giants at the end of pre-season camp and quickly was signed by the

. Don Shula, head coach of the Dolphins attempted to transform Mark into a middle linebacker once arriving into their Davie, FL facilities. Despite losing almost 40 lbs in a short time and playing a big role on special teams Mark was assigned to the waiver wire where he was intended to move to the Dolphins practice squad. Before clearing waivers Mark was picked up by the

where he was moved back to his nature position of Defensive End. Mark appeared in six games for the Eagles and Miami Dolphins. While playing a road game against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

, Mark suffered a season ending shoulder injury. After attempting to finish the season with the injury he was assigned to the IR list and subsequently released. After off season shoulder surgery He later signed with the L.A. Raiders and finished with the Cleveland Browns. However, he never played a game for either the Raiders or Browns

Coaching career

After his playing career in the NFL, Mark returned to the Miami Hurricanes in 1992 as a graduate assistant. In 1995, he was hired by

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

to be their defensive line coach. The next year, he returned to the Hurricanes to be their defensive line coach in 1996. He held the positions until he was let go in the 2005 UM staff purge. He was a coaching staff member of the 2001 National Championship team. His efforts in coaching resemble those as a player, when he oversaw a group in 2001 that was a vital part of the Hurricanes' drive to the National Championship. Greg Mark, the UM defensive linemen, spearheaded a defense that led the nation in scoring defense, pass efficiency defense and turnover margin while ranking in the top 10 nationally in five statistical categories. During Mark's coaching tenure at The U he was able to develop and guide players like Warren Sapp, Kenny Holmes, Kenard Lang,

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the developm ...

, Vince Wilfork, Jerome McDougal, Jamaal Greene, William Joseph and Calais Campbell.

References

External links

Miami Hurricanes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mark, Greg 1967 births Living people People from Cherry Hill, New Jersey People from Merchantville, New Jersey Pennsauken High School alumni All-American college football players American football defensive ends American football linebackers Miami Dolphins players Miami Hurricanes football coaches Miami Hurricanes football players New York Giants players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from New Jersey Sportspeople from Camden County, New Jersey Utah State Aggies football coaches