Mark Sherrod (born August 13, 1990) is a former American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, Sherrod played high-school soccer at Carter High School where he scored 172 goals during his time there with 63 goals coming his final season at the school. It was during that final season that Sherrod also won the Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year award. He then went on to attend the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

where he played college soccer for the

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the Sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level as a member of ...

. During the summers, Mark spent 2011 playing with

Chattanooga FC Chattanooga Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 2009, the team began play in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) in Spring 2020. Prior to joining the NISA ...

and 2012 and 2013 with

Portland Timbers U23s Capital FC is an American soccer team based in Salem, Oregon, United States. Although founded in 2008 as part of the development system for the Portland Timbers USSF D2 organization, beginning in 2011 they were part of the development system ...

Professional

On January 16, 2014, it was announced that Sherrod had been drafted by the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

in the second-round of the

2014 MLS SuperDraft The 2014 MLS SuperDraft was the fifteenth MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. The first two rounds of the four round draft took place on January 16, 2014, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Convention Center ...

. He then made his professional debut for the Dynamo on March 8, 2014, against the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

. He came on in the 90th minute for

Will Bruin William Christopher Bruin (born October 24, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC. Prior to joining Seattle, he spent 6 seasons playing for the Houston Dynamo. H ...

as the Dynamo won 4–0. On May 11, 2014, Sherrod make his first career start and scored his first MLS goals, scoring twice against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

. Sherrod went on to start the next three games for the Dynamo before having his promising rookie season come to a close with a torn ACL on May 21, 2014. At the conclusion of the 2014 MLS season, Sherrod was left unprotected by Houston for the

2014 MLS Expansion Draft The 2014 MLS Expansion Draft was a draft for the Major League Soccer expansion teams New York City FC and Orlando City SC that took place between November 19 and December 10, 2014. The first two rounds of the draft (which were known as the 2014 MLS ...

and he was selected by

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

. The following day Sherrod was traded to

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

for a second-round pick in the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Januar ...

. Sherrod started two games with the San Jose Earthquakes in 2015, and did not appear in any games with the team in 2016 after suffering another left knee injury. Mark retired at the age of 26 before the 2017 season due to recurring knee injuries. Upon retiring from his professional soccer career, Mark entered the world of tech SaaS sales.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1990 births Living people American soccer players Memphis Tigers men's soccer players Portland Timbers U23s players Houston Dynamo FC players San Jose Earthquakes players Sacramento Republic FC players Association football forwards Sportspeople from Knoxville, Tennessee Soccer players from Tennessee Houston Dynamo FC draft picks USL League Two players National Premier Soccer League players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Chattanooga FC players {{US-footy-forward-stub