Marshawn Lynch

Marshawn Terrell Lynch (born April 22, 1986) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons.

Nicknamed "Beast Mode", he spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks.

Lynch grew up in Oakland, California and played college football for the nearby California Golden Bears, earning first-team All-American honors and becoming the school's second all-time career rusher.

Lynch attended and graduated from the same high school as his mother, Oakland Technical High School, from 2000-2004.

In his 2003 season, Lynch amassed 1,722 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns in only eight regular season games and an additional 375 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in two postseason games.

He was voted a PrepStar and SuperPrep All-American and was also voted the San Francisco East Bay Player of the Year.

In basketball, he played on the Oakland Tech's team alongside future Cal star Leon Powe.

Lynch helped lead his team to the state semi-finals.

As an athlete in the Bay Area, Lynch befriended and often played against film director and writer Ryan Coogler; who also grew up in the same part of Oakland as Lynch.

In addition to football, Lynch excelled in track and field, where he competed mainly as a sprinter, but also in jumping events.

He recorded a personal-best time of 10.94 seconds in the 100-meter dash as a senior, while also posting top-leaps of 1.94 meters (6 ft, 4 in) in the high jump and 6.38 meters (20 ft, 10 in) in the long jump.

Lynch was a versatile athlete on the football field.

He played defensive back, quarterback, wide receiver, and linebacker in high school.

The Rivals.com recruiting network had him ranked #2 in the nation at running back behind Adrian Peterson.

He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in social welfare and played for the Golden Bears football team from 2004-2006.

As a true freshman in 2004, Lynch was the primary backup to senior J. J. Arrington.

In his collegiate debut against Air Force in the regular season opener, he had seven carries for 92 yards and a touchdown in the 56–14 victory.

On November 13, in the 42–12 victory over Washington, he had nine carries for 121 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to go along with a 29-yard touchdown reception.

One week later, against Stanford, Lynch had 122 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.

In addition, he threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Burl Toler in the 41–6 victory.

Overall, Lynch carried the ball 71 times for 628 yards with eight rushing touchdowns and 147 yards on 19 receptions and two receiving touchdowns in his freshman season.

In 2005, Arrington had graduated and Lynch became the starting running back.

Lynch wore jersey No. 24 his freshman year but switched to No. 10, his high school number.

This switch placed him in sequence with his cousins Virdell Larkins, who wore No. 9, and Robert Jordan, who wore No. 11.

Lynch and his cousins were teammates at Cal. Lynch started off the season strong with 24 carries for 147 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 41–3 victory over Sacramento State.

Almost a month later, on October 1, he had 107 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in a 28–0 victory over Arizona.

The next week, he had 135 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 47–40 loss to UCLA.

On October 22, against Washington State, he had 160 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 42–38 loss.

He was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft and played three full seasons before joining Seattle during the 2010 season.

Playing for the Seahawks from 2010 to 2015, Lynch was voted to four consecutive Pro Bowls, made one first-team All-Pro selection, and twice led the league in rushing touchdowns.

He also helped the team win their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XLVIII.

His Beast Quake touchdown during the 2010–11 NFL playoffs, which saw him rush for 67 yards while breaking nine tackles, is considered one of the greatest runs in NFL history.

Lynch retired in 2015 following an injury-plagued year, but returned to the NFL in 2017 to play for the Oakland Raiders, his hometown team.

After two seasons, Lynch retired a second time until he reunited with the Seahawks in 2019 for their last regular season game and playoff run.

Since retiring for a third and final time, he has co-owned the Beasts of Fan Controlled Football (FCF) and the Bay Area Panthers of the Indoor Football League (IFL).

Lynch grew up in Oakland, California with three older siblings.

He was raised by his mother Delisa, who once held a 200-meter track record at Oakland Technical High School.

Lynch started playing youth football in Oakland at a young age.

In 2020, he received an honorary degree from Princeton University after he was invited to be the Class of 2020 speaker.

At Oakland Tech, Lynch was a four-sport star for the Bulldogs football, basketball, track, and wrestling.