Rex Grossman - Early Years

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. Despite his success running the ball, his mother asked his coach 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 7518 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 reached its climax 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 state-wide 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.