Mark Sanchez is a quarterback for the New York Jets. After leading USC to its fourth straight Rose Bowl appearance, Sanchez chose to forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the 2009 NFL Draft. Sanchez is 6-feet, 3-inches tall and weighs 225 pounds.

Sanchez spent his first two years of high school at Santa Margarita High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. He moved to Mission Viejo High School in 2003 and led the team to a 13-1 record. He completed 161-of-211 passes (76.3%) for 2,460 yards with 29 TDs and seven interceptions. As a senior, Sanchez was 151-of-245 (61.6%) for 2,441 yards with 24 TDs, despite sitting out eight halves due to blowouts. Mission Viejo High School went 14-0 and finished third in the USA Today Super 25 Football Rankings. Sanchez was the Parade Player of the Year and a consensus first team All-America. After considering Notre Dame, Texas, Florida and Ohio State, Sanchez signed with USC.

With Matt Leinart entrenched as the starter, Mark Sanchez redshirted the 2005 season. He was involved in an off-field incident during the spring, when a female USC student accused him of sexual assault. He was placed on interim suspension from the football team, but was reinstated when the case was dropped in June. He made his college football debut later that season, backing up John David Booty. He appeared in six games, completing 3-of-7 passes as USC went 11-2 and won the Rose Bowl.

Sanchez saw more action in 2007, thanks to an injury to Booty. He made three starts, beating Arizona and Notre Dame before losing to Oregon. Against Arizona he threw for 130 yards, a TD and two interceptions. The next week against Notre Dame he threw for 235 yards and four touchdowns. He had 277 yards passing and two touchdowns against Oregon, but also threw a pair of interceptions in the loss. He finished the season with 695 passing yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.

Sanchez beat out Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain and redshirt freshman Aaron Corp for the starting job in spring practice in 2008. However, in the first week of fall practice, Sanchez suffered a dislocated kneecap that jeopardized his starting status. He missed three weeks of practice, but returned in time for the regular season opener against Virginia. Sanchez threw for a career-best 338 yards in that game, including three touchdowns. He had at least three TD passes in each of USC's first four games of the season, including a loss to Oregon State. Sanchez capped off his season with an MVP performance against Penn State in the Rose Bowl, throwing for 413 yards and four touchdowns. Sanchez finished the season with 3,207 passing yards and 34 touchdowns, both of which led the Pac-10. He was a first team All-Pac-10 selection and earned honorable mention All-America honors from Sports Illustrated.

Sanchez was drafted in the first round (5th overall) in the 2009 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. New York traded three players and two draft picks to the Cleveland Browns to move up and acquire the pick used to draft Sanchez. Before the 2009 season, Sanchez signed a 5-year/$50M deal with $28 million guaranteed. Sanchez also posed for a photo spread in GQ Magazine.

After the first two preseason games, Sanchez was named the Jets starting quarterback for the 2009 regular-season opener at Houston. He became the first rookie QB to start Week 1 for the Jets since their inaugural season in 1960. Sanchez led the Jets to a win over the Texans in his NFL debut, throwing for 272 yards and a touchdown.

Sanchez led the Jets to a 3-0 start in 2009, becoming the first rookie quarterback since the AFL-NFL merger to start and win his team's first three games of the season, and earning offensive Rookie of the Month honors for September. However, he threw eight interceptions in the next three games combined, as the Jets fell to 3-3 Sanchez helped stop the Jets losing streak, leading them to a 38-0 win at Oakland. However, during that game, Sanchez was seen eating a hot dog on the sidelines. He eventually apologized for doing so.

In Week 13, already nursing a sore left knee, Sanchez suffered a sprained PCL in his right knee in a win against the Bills. The injury forced him to miss the Week 14 game against the Buccaneers. He returned for the final three games of the season, leading the Jets to wins in Weeks 16 and 17 to help New York qualify for its first playoff berth since 2006.

In the playoffs, Sanchez led the Jets to upset wins over the Bengals and Chargers, joining Joe Flacco as the only rookie quarterbacks to win two playoff games. However, like Flacco the year before, Sanchez fell short of the Super Bowl, as the Jets lost to the Colts in the 2009 AFC Championship Game.

Sanchez is the son of Nick and Olga Sanchez, who divorced when Mark was four years old. Mark Sanchez has two older brothers, who both played college football. His brother Nick Jr. was a quarterback at Yale and his brother Brandon was an offensive lineman at DePauw. Sanchez's high school football coach, Bob Johnson, is the father of former USC and NFL quarterback Rob Johnson. He was also a private instructor for Carson Palmer, a former Heisman Trophy-winning QB at USC.