Carson Wentz

Early life

Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Wentz moved to North Dakota with his family at the age of three. He played quarterback and defensive back for the football team at Century High School in Bismarck, and also played basketball and baseball at the school. Inspired by his older brother, he had played ice hockey up until high school, before deciding to join the basketball team. As a freshman, Wentz was 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) in height, grew to 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) as a senior, and graduated in 2011 as valedictorian of his class.

College career

Wentz attended North Dakota State, redshirting his first season with the Bison as they won their first Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) title under ninth-year head coach Craig Bohl.

As a redshirt freshman in 2012, Wentz was the backup quarterback to Brock Jensen and played in his first collegiate game on September 22. He completed all eight of his passes for 93 yards and threw his first touchdown in relief of Jensen in a 66–7 blowout victory over the Prairie View A&M Panthers. Wentz finished the season completing 12-of-16 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns.

Wentz was again the second-string quarterback in 2013 and appeared in 11 games. He had his best game that season on October 13, against Delaware State, completing 10-of-13 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Wentz finished his redshirt sophomore season completing 22-of-30 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown.

Wentz became the Bison starting quarterback during his junior year in 2014. In his first start in the opener against the Iowa State Cyclones of the Big 12 Conference, Wentz completed 18-of-28 pass attempts for 204 yards in a 34–14 victory on August 30. During the game against the Western Illinois Leathernecks on October 10, he caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from running back John Crockett and helped lead the Bison to a 17–10 comeback victory. Statistically, Wentz's best game that season was against the Missouri State Bears, where he threw for 247 yards and five touchdowns.

Wentz led NDSU to a 15–1 record. On January 10, 2015, he started in his first national championship game against the Illinois State Redbirds and passed for 287 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 87 yards and scored a touchdown on a five-yard run to give the Bison the lead with 37 seconds left. NDSU won their fourth consecutive NCAA Division I Football Championship game, 29–27. Wentz started all 16 games in 2014, completing 228 of 358 passes for 3,111 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He was also the team's second leading rusher, rushing for 642 yards and six touchdowns.

As a fifth-year senior in 2015, Wentz had one of the best games of his career on October 10 against the Northern Iowa Panthers, when he passed for a career-high 335 yards. The following week against the South Dakota Coyotes, Wentz suffered a broken wrist in the first half but managed to complete the game with 16-of-28 completions for 195 yards and two touchdowns as the Bison lost 24–21. After starting the first six games of the season and completing 63.7 percent of his passes for a total of 1,454 yards and 16 touchdowns, Wentz missed the next eight weeks of the season after undergoing surgery to his broken throwing wrist. He returned to practice in the beginning of December and was cleared to play in the national championship. On January 9, 2016, Wentz led the Bison to its fifth straight FCS title, running for two touchdowns and throwing for a third. He was named the NCAA Division I-AA Championship Game Most Outstanding Player for the second straight year.

Wentz graduated with a degree in health and physical education, finishing with a 4.0 grade point average and twice earning recognition as an Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America, first for Division I football and later for all Division I sports.

Personal life

Wentz has been married since 2018 and has four daughters.

Wentz is a Christian. He founded the AO1 Foundation in 2017. In 2018, Wentz helped build a sports complex in Haiti. He is an avid hunter and frequently returns to North Dakota to hunt.

Wentz's older brother, Zach, played college baseball, pitching for the North Dakota State Bison team from 2009 to 2012. After a brief stint with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, he went into teaching, before heading the AO1 Foundation, alongside former Bison quarterback Cole Davis. Wentz's younger half-brother, Luke Domres, played both baseball and football at high school level, but chose to concentrate on his studies, graduating magna cum laude from Arizona State University.