Mark Popek (born August 31, 1990) 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 ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

. He was signed by the

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

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2013. 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 ...

USF USF may refer to: Universities * University of Saint Francis (Indiana), Ft. Wayne, Indiana * University of San Francisco, California * University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida * University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois * University of Siou ...

Early years

He attended

Plant City High School The Plant City High School is a public high school in Plant City, Florida, United States and is part of the Hillsborough County Public Schools. The current school building was completed in 1972 on Maki Road, now called Raider Place. History Th ...

in Plant City, Florida. He was named 5A second-team all-state team.

College career

Popek

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman year in 2008. As a redshirt freshman, he was named to the All-Big East Freshman team after playing in twelve games, starting the Bulls' last five of six games. In 2010, he made four starts while playing in eight games for USF. Popek started all twelve contests at left tackle in 2011 and led the Big East conference in sacks allowed, giving up 1.3 a game. Prior to the start of the 2012 season, Popek was listed in the 2012 Outland Trophy Watch List. He went on to start nine games at both the guard and tackle positions but missed time due to an ankle injury. He was selected to the 2012 Second-team All-Big East team.

Professional career

Popek signed with the

as an

on April 29, 2013. He was released on July 23, 2013.

References

External links

USF Bulls bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popek, Mark 1990 births Living people American football offensive guards South Florida Bulls football players New York Jets players People from Plant City, Florida Players of American football from Hillsborough County, Florida