Tanner Mordecai (born November 8, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the sport, athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. SMU was founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor Bears, Baylor, Rice Owls, ...

and

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

. He signed with the 49ers as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

after the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

Early life

Mordecai attended

Midway High School Midway High School is a public high school located in the city of Waco, Texas, USA and classified as a 6A school by the UIL. It is part of the Midway Independent School District, which serves the Waco, Texas area. Although the school is located ...

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

. During his career he passed for 4,797 yards and 51 touchdowns. He committed to the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

to play college football.

College career

Oklahoma

Mordecai played at Oklahoma from 2018 to 2020. In his first year he appeared in two games as a backup to

Kyler Murray Kyler Cole Murray (born August 7, 1997) is an American professional football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Following one season of college football with the Texas A&M Aggies, Murray played for the ...

and took a redshirt. In 2019, he competed with

Jalen Hurts Jalen Alexander Hurts (born August 7, 1998) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). Hurts began his college football career with the Alabama Crims ...

to be the starter but lost the job and was the backup to Hurts for the season. In 2020 he again competed for the starting job, this time with Spencer Rattler, but again lost the job and spent the year as his backup. Overall he played in 12 games at Oklahoma, completing 50 of 70 passes for 639 yards and four touchdowns.

SMU

In 2021, Mordecai transferred to

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

. In his first year at SMU, he was named the starter. In his first start, he threw for a then school-record seven passing touchdowns in a 56–9 victory over Abilene Christian. Following the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, Mordecai was selected to the American's All-Conference Second Team. On November 5, 2022, against the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education inst ...

, Mordecai threw for a school-record 9 touchdowns, 7 of which came in the first half. The Mustangs won the game 77–63, breaking the FBS record for highest-scoring regulation game. For his performance, Mordecai was named The American's offensive player of the week.

Wisconsin

On December 30, 2022, Mordecai announced his intent to transfer to the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Statistics

Professional career

On April 27, 2024, Mordecai signed with the

as an

after he was not selected in the

. He was also selected by the

DC Defenders The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The Defenders compete in the United Football League (2024), United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team was founded by Vince McMaho ...

in the ninth round of the

2024 UFL draft The 2024 UFL draft, also known as the 2024 UFL college draft, was the first meeting of United Football League (UFL) franchises to select newly eligible players ahead of the 2025 UFL season. It was the first rookie draft since the league formed ...

on July 17. Mordecai was waived on August 27, and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with San Francisco on January 6, 2025.

References

External links

San Francisco 49ers bioOklahoma Sooners bioSMU Mustangs bioWisconsin Badgers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mordecai, Tanner 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Waco, Texas American football quarterbacks Oklahoma Sooners football players SMU Mustangs football players Wisconsin Badgers football players San Francisco 49ers players