Trey Lance

BIOGRAPHY

Trey Lance was born May 9, 2000, in Marshall, Minnesota. Lance played running back in youth football and first played at quarterback in middle school. He later attended Marshall High School, where he was viewed as the best quarterback prospect in Minnesota. He initially wanted to play at the University of Minnesota and had been ready to commit there after attending a recruiting event in February 2017. However, he was not considered a quarterback prospect by them or other Power Five schools as they wanted him to play wide receiver or defensive back instead. The only schools that offered him the chance to stay at quarterback were from the Group of Five conference in the Football Championship Subdivision, with Lance eventually committing to North Dakota State in December 2017. Lance redshirted for the 2018 season, but played in two games where he recorded two rushing touchdowns. He was named the starter in 2019, where led the Bison to the 2020 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game and was named its most valuable player in the 28–20 victory. He finished the season throwing 287 times for 28 touchdowns and no interceptions, an NCAA record for most passing attempts in a season without an interception. He also ran for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns. For his performance that season, he won the Walter Payton Award as the FCS's most outstanding offensive player and the Jerry Rice Award as the FCS's best freshman.

Lance was set to start again in 2020 before the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His only game appearance that season was in a single exhibition game against Central Arkansas in October 2020, where he threw for two touchdowns and ran for an additional two while throwing the only interception of his college career. The Bison were scheduled to make up the rest of the season in early 2021, but Lance announced following the game that he would opt-out and begin to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft. Lance was drafted 3rd by the San Francisco 49ers.