Meet the under-the-radar QB who could rise up 2025 NFL Draft boards (2024)

The NCAA deadline for transfers this spring was April 30. And quarterback Mark Gronowski was fielding calls from FBS teams up until the final hours.

He earned those phone calls. Just look at his resume.

Back-to-back FCS national championships the last two seasons at South Dakota State. A 37-3 record as a starter, including 29 straight wins. The 2023 Walter Payton Award as the most outstanding offensive player in the FCS. Oh, and a degree in mechanical engineering.

Bigger schools dangled hundreds of thousands of name, image and likeness dollars in front of him, trying to get him to “transfer up” and play in the Big Ten or ACC — an opportunity he strived for out of high school.

However, his NFL dreams and strong bonds — both with his biological family and the one he’s built in Brookings, S.D. — led him back to South Dakota State for one final season.

“We like you. You’re on our board. You’re just not at the top, and we want to wait and see what our top guy does.”

For Gronowski, that was the copy-and-paste response from college coaches during the high school recruiting process.

Until Zach Lujan entered the picture.

Before his senior year of high school, Gronowski attended a camp at North Central (Ill.) College, where he drew the attention of Lujan, who’d just finished his first season as South Dakota State’s running backs coach. A few months later, Lujan earned a promotion to quarterbacks coach and reached out to Gronowski for an on-campus visit.

That visit resulted in Gronowski’s first — and, as it turned out, only — scholarship offer.

After he had a productive senior year at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Ill., several Big Ten (Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin) and now ACC (Stanford) programs increased their interest in Gronowski and offered him walk-on opportunities. But he felt the most love from South Dakota State — a championship-level FCS program he felt could help him reach the NFL.

“Trey Lance was drafted high. Carson Wentz and Easton Stick were drafted out of (North Dakota State),” Gronowski said. “Seeing those guys get drafted out of the Missouri Valley (Conference), I knew if I went to South Dakota State and had a successful career, that I would have the same opportunities as those guys.”

Once he arrived in Brookings and started to focus on football year-round, Gronowski showed quick development, physically and mentally. And that development happened so quickly that he won the Jackrabbits’ starting job as a true freshman.

When NFL scouts talk about Gronowski now, they use phrases like “smart leader” and “handles big moments.” Gronowski credits his family dynamics for his natural leadership — but a devastating injury, the first of his life, also turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Six plays into the FCS National Championship Game in spring 2021, Gronowski took a hit to his left knee. An MRI revealed tears in his ACL and MCL, putting him on a long road back to the football field. Because the injury occurred at the end of a season postponed several months by the COVID-19 pandemic, it also sidelined him for the regularly scheduled 2021 season.

“There were a lot of dark, monotonous days,” Gronowski said. “But I’m kind of glad I went through that experience, because it helped open doors, both in football and outside of football. I was able to learn the game at a higher level.”

With South Dakota State suddenly needing a quarterback for the 2021 season in the wake of Gronowski’s injury, former South Florida and Samford QB Chris Oladokun transferred in for his sixth season. He eventually played his way into being a seventh-round pick in the 2022 draft.

But watching Oladokun — experiencing the game from the Jackrabbits’ sidelines during that fall 2021 season — gave Gronowski a new perspective that helped slow everything down for him.

“It really developed my ability to see what defenses are doing and make pre-snap plans,” Gronowski said. “I feel like I know the outcome almost before it happens, which is such a benefit for me. Things don’t always go according to what you think, but making quick decisions on the field is a huge difference for me now compared to my freshman year.”

A good-sized athlete, Gronowski is a verified 6 feet 2 1/2 and 235 pounds, with big hands (10 1/2 inches) and natural athleticism. As a passer, his mechanics aren’t always in rhythm, but he can rip the football to every level. Toughness and physicality are his calling cards. In high school, he was the starting center on the basketball team and annoyed everyone else in the paint with charges and fouls, even though they towered over him.

The proof is on tape, and in the results. South Dakota State again promoted Lujan in 2022, to offensive coordinator. Under his guidance that next season, Gronowski led the Jackrabbits to the program’s first of back-to-back FCS national championships.

Of course, Gronowski has had other help along the way, too.

A hyperactive kid, Gronowski was a do-everything athlete growing up in Naperville, a western suburb of Chicago. Baseball, basketball, soccer, swimming — you name it, he did it.

But he always gravitated toward football as his favorite sport and started playing pee-wee ball in first grade. With his sports schedule, he didn’t have time for a private quarterbacks coach as a kid. But he also didn’t need one, because he had one at home. His father, Ray Gronowski, played quarterback at Drake University in the early-to-mid ’80s and later became play caller for his son’s youth teams.

“More than just football, my dad taught me how to be a good teammate,” Mark Gronowski said. “Always make sure you’re doing the right thing and having a positive attitude; making sure to lift others and not putting your head down. Those are the pillars he instilled in me, more than just playing the position itself.”

His older sister, Sarah, also played college ball as a four-year starter on the Butler softball team. But if you ask Mark, the best athlete in the family might be his older brother, Ryan.

At age 4, Ryan was diagnosed with epilepsy and IDD (intellectual and developmental disabilities). With a child with special needs in the family, day-to-day life for Mark was different from what most kids experience — but like a lot of brothers, sports helped him and Ryan form a special connection.

At age 8, Ryan started participating in the Special Olympics and quickly became the most active of the Gronowskis’ three children. At the 2022 USA Games at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., Ryan won gold in flag football and was featured on “Good Morning America,” which included a surprise visit from Tim Tebow.

“Ryan has taught me a lot,” Mark Gronowski said. “He taught me how to bring a positive attitude every day. No matter what is going on, he is going to wake up with a smile and have a good day no matter what. That’s something I try to carry for myself every day.”

With a couple of title rings on his finger, Gronowski found himself part of the recruiting process once again this offseason. Except this time, Gronowski was the hot name. He finished the 2023 season with a 68.1 percent completion rate (209 for 307), 3,058 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and only five interceptions. He also had 402 yards on the ground and eight rushing touchdowns.

As part of the process and thanks to the NIL era, multiple six-figure offers landed on Gronowski’s table from prominent schools. Gronowski explored those options.

“My dad and I always laugh,” Gronowski said, “because if you go back four years when I was coming out of high school, if I had these opportunities, I wouldn’t have thought twice and would have gone to one of the bigger schools.”

After the 2023 season, South Dakota State lost several impact offensive players to the NFL, including its leading rusher (Isaiah Davis), top three pass catchers (Jadon Janke, Jaxon Janke, Zach Heins) and several starters on the offensive line. But perhaps its greatest loss was Lujan, a sought-after play caller who accepted the offensive coordinator post at Northwestern.

No one would have blamed Gronowski for wanting to join Lujan, the man who found and developed him, at the FBS level. Besides Northwestern, several other FBS programs reached out with offers, including a high-profile ACC school looking for an upgrade at quarterback.

Gronowski leaned on his family, specifically “countless” conversations with his father, his coaching staff and feedback from scouts and agents for his decision. He also talked with former teammates who’d jumped into the transfer portal with mixed results. Ultimately, Gronowski trusted the bonds he’s created between his family and the Brookings community.

Back to back to….. pic.twitter.com/VbZqH9BDxI

— Mark Gronowski (@mgronowski11) April 30, 2024

And he believes by staying loyal, successful and continuing to win at South Dakota State, the money he’ll ultimately earn in the NFL will be far more substantial than what he would’ve landed this year. As Gronowski puts it: “The grass isn’t always greener. And it’s tough to leave a place that is pretty freaking green already.

“As long as I keep playing my style of football, it will all end up working out.”

Gronowski acknowledges he would feel embarrassed at times growing up when he told people he wanted to be an NFL player. But that has always been the dream, and South Dakota State has churned out five NFL Draft picks over the last three years. To put that in perspective, that’s the same number of draft picks the school produced over the previous 27 years combined.

With a quarterback draft class very much in flux, NFL scouts believe Gronowski has the talent and intangibles that could make him one of the more appealing QB prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s done just about all he can to earn that opportunity, too.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Chris Leduc / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images; C. Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)