Mark Carlson

Who is Mark Carlson?

Mark Carlson was a quarterback for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team from 1976-1979. During his senior year in 1979, Carlson passed for 2188 yards and 11 touchdowns, which was good enough to earn him Team MVP honors on a squad that finished 4-6-1 under first-year head coach Joe Salem.

During his tenure with the Gophers, Carlson competed with Wendell Avery for the starting quarterback position, both having varying success at different times during this period. Mark Carlson first made a name for himself during his sophomore season in 1977 in one of the biggest wins in Gopher history. The Gophers were scheduled to face the vaunted Michigan Wolverine team in their annual Little Brown Jug game, which would be played at the Gopher’s Memorial Stadium. Michigan was coming into the contest as the number one ranked team in the country with a 6-0 record. The Gophers - who were 4-2 at the time with impressive wins over Washington and UCLA – still were considered major underdogs against the Wolverines and Bo Schembechler. What added to the Gopher’s uncertainty was that they still didn’t know who their starting quarterback was going to be.