Rex Daniel Grossman III (born August 23, 1980) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. He played college football at the University of Florida, where he was named AP College Football Player of the Year and won the 2002 Orange Bowl as a sophomore. Grossman was selected by the Bears in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft.
Grossman's most successful season was in 2006 when he helped lead the Bears to an appearance in Super Bowl XLI. Due to inconsistent play, Grossman lost his starting position the following season. He spent the remainder of his career mostly as a backup, last playing as a starter with the Washington Redskins in 2011.
Early years
Grossman was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1980, the son of Rex Daniel Grossman II and Maureen Grossman. Under the motivation and guidance of his father, he began playing football at an early age in grade school. He originally started his football career as a running back, and played for a team that was coached by his father. His mother convinced his father to convert him to a quarterback while he was in the sixth grade.
Grossman attended Bloomington High School South, where he played high school football for the Bloomington South Panthers. In three seasons as the Panthers' quarterback, he threw for 7,518 yards and 97 touchdowns. He threw for 3,080 yards and forty-four touchdowns as a senior in 1998, including a game where he threw six touchdowns. His senior season culminated when he led the Panthers to a 35–14 victory over the Homestead High School Spartans in the Indiana Class 5A state championship game. Grossman completed seventeen of twenty-six pass attempts for 216 yards and five touchdowns, setting an Indiana record for the most touchdowns thrown in a championship game.
Grossman was recognized as the 1998 Indiana Player of the Year by USA Today, was ranked among the top fifteen players in the nation by the National Recruiting Advisor, and Parade magazine named him to its high school All-America team. He received statewide honors when he was named Indiana's Mr. Football later that year. Bloomington High School South retired his jersey in the summer of 2007 to commemorate his success during the Chicago Bears' 2006 season.
College career
Grossman accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Steve Spurrier and coach Ron Zook's Florida Gators from 1999 to 2002.
2000
After redshirting his freshman year in 1999, Grossman competed for playing time with returning starter Jesse Palmer and the top high school recruit in the country Brock Berlin, in 2000. Grossman started his first game as a Florida Gator on October 7, 2000, against LSU. Grossman had gotten the opportunity to start after completing 13 of 16 pass attempts for 232 yards and two touchdowns against Mississippi State the week before in the Gators' only SEC conference loss of the season. Grossman solidified his position as Florida's starting quarterback during the next two games by throwing for over 500 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions in lopsided wins over LSU and Auburn. He led the Gators to the SEC championship and was named Most Valuable Player of the SEC Championship Game. For the season, Grossman completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,866 yards, 21 touchdowns, and only seven interceptions. His passer efficiency rating of 161.8 was the third best in NCAA Division I football.