Mark Jensen (born July 11, 1976 in Oregon City, Oregon) 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 ...

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

for 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 spent time with three different NFL teams: the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. He also spent one year (2004) in NFL Europe, playing for the now defunct

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

. 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 ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

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 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

in Leipzig, Germany.

College career

At the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, 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 Raimund "Ray" Wersching (born August 21, 1950) is an Austrian former placekicker in the NFL. He played in the NFL for a span of 15 years, from 1973 through 1987. Early career He attended Warren High School in Downey, California. NFL career Un ...

Jim Breech James Thomas Breech (born April 11, 1956) is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League (NFL), who played for Oakland Raiders in 1979 and Cincinnati Bengals from 1980-1992. Before his NFL career, Breech played for t ...

Doug Brien Douglas Robert Zachariah Brien (born November 24, 1970) is a former American football placekicker and American businessman. He played twelve seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for seven teams: San Francisco, New Orleans, Indianapolis ...

, 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 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

record for most field goals in a game (5) versus

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

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:

NFL and post-NFL careers

Jensen signed a free agent contract with the

following the 2003

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, but was waived during training camp after injuring his groin versus the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. 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

and subsequently allocated to play in

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

. After handling all kick-off duties for the

, Jensen returned to St. Louis only to be subsequently released. He was signed immediately by the

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 The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

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

, and

NY Jets NY most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the Northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York NY, Ny or ny may also refer to: Places * North Yorkshire, ...

. 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 Giorgio Tavecchio (born July 16, 1990), nicknamed "Italian Ice", is a placekicker for the Barcelona Dragons of the European League of Football. He was born in Milan, Italy and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the San Francisco 49ers in 2 ...

, Justin Medlock, Chris Kluwe. He now is in sales for Stryker Corporation.Mark Jensen

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

page In 2016 was named Stryker’s #1 overall hip rep in the country, winning the prestigious Grand Champions Award.

References

External links

Mark Jensen KickingPlayer ProfileRelated ArticlesUtah State Championship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Mark Living people 1976 births Sportspeople from Oregon City, Oregon People from Pleasant Grove, Utah Players of American football from Utah County, Utah American football placekickers California Golden Bears football players Detroit Lions players St. Louis Rams players Scottish Claymores players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Oregon