Marc Wilson

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 his college football for Brigham Young University, where he was one of the first of LaVell Edwards' great quarterbacks. In the system Edwards put in place, the quarterback was given a chance to pass nearly every play, and almost always had five wide receivers to work with. Adopted after Stanford University won two consecutive Rose Bowls with a passing offense, the BYU system regularly placed a quarterback in the top eight of the Heisman Trophy voting from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

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 rebounded to lead the Raiders to victory in 1983. 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 an embarrassing 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 days at BYU, when 9- and 10-win seasons were typical. He spent the 1988 preseason with the Green Bay Packers.

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.