Marques Buford has done a lot of packing and unpacking in the past few months. He’s no stranger to that, though.
The Nebraska football defensive back signee is in the process of getting his stuff ready to go again, as he’s one of 13 newly minted Huskers who are set to arrive on campus in January and join the program for the spring semester and winter conditioning.
Buford’s had as strange a ride over a weird 2020 as any of NU’s newcomers. He played youth football with Nebraska freshman Alante Brown in Chicago and started his high school career there at Bolingbrook High before moving to Texas and playing his final two seasons at Trinity Christian. That brings us to 2020. Buford opted to take a post-graduate year at St. Thomas More in Connecticut, only to have his arrival delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Eventually, he got there in August — after verbally pledging to NU in July — and STM played five games before its final scheduled game was canceled.
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“A few days before we played, the state of Connecticut canceled all football, even the prep schools,†Buford told the Journal Star on Monday as he headed for a workout in Dallas. “At first, it was just the high schools that couldn’t play, so it was kind of a loophole because we were a prep school, so we continued with our season.
“Then they didn’t let us play our last game. They said we could have it, but we’d have to go all the way to Maine to play.â€
So, with the season finished, it was back to Texas just before Thanksgiving. There, he’s been working out and training in preparation for moving again, this time to Nebraska on Jan. 20.
“The time I’ve been back from prep school to right now at this moment, about to be January, this time has flew by,†Buford said. “It’s actually crazy. It feels like I was just in Connecticut going through it with no haircuts and all that type of stuff. But now I’m back in Dallas and, honestly, packing my bags again and getting ready to get to Lincoln.â€
Even as odd as the three-month sojourn to Connecticut was, Buford said it helped him a lot on his football trajectory.
“I definitely feel like I improved,†he said. “Not even really like my physical — I definitely do feel like I’ve gotten way faster, way stronger — but more so on my football IQ and really just thinking the game and outsmarting people. I feel like that’s where I grew the most at.â€
His highlights show mostly a cornerback that’s not afraid to press up on receivers. The first play on his Hudl film from the fall is a Cam Taylor-Britt-esque interception in which he goes back on the ball and leaps high to pull it down.
Really, Buford doesn’t seem like the type who’s scared of much on the football field. Especially competition. In fact, Buford says he hopes NU’s senior trio decides to stick around for 2021 and use the extra year of eligibility being offered by the NCAA.
“I have the utmost confidence in myself, and I feel like, anywhere I go and regardless of who’s there or how long anyone’s been there, I always feel like I’m the person that they need to be worried about,†Buford said. “Great people aren’t formed by having the easy way out. Competition has always been my thing. I honestly wouldn’t even feel right if I got there and I got to play right away, but I didn’t have to work for it.
“I hope a lot of the older guys come back. I definitely would like to get to learn a lot from them, seeing as they’ve been in the program for four or five years now. So having them come back and get their insight and their little knocks on the game — obviously college football is a lot different from high school or the prep level I was just playing at. So basically just getting in their head and getting everything that they feel like works and combining that with my own strategy that I have for myself and making it do what it do.â€
All of that will come after one more move. Buford’s had plenty of that over the past few years, but he’s looking forward to this one.
“It’s honestly really exciting,†he said. “I’ve been working my butt off ever since I got home, making sure I stay in shape and get in even better shape than I was before while I was in prep school, so I’m just excited to get in right away and get to work with the guys and the coaches.â€
Nebraska football scholarship chart
Nebraska football scholarship chart
Position | Freshman | RS Freshman | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | Fifth/Sixth-year senior |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB (3) | Dylan Raiola | Heinrich Haarberg* | ||||
Daniel Kaelin | ||||||
RB (5) | Kwinten Ives* | Emmett Johnson* | Gabe Ervin Jr.* | Rahmir Johnson* | ||
Dante Dowdell | ||||||
TE/FB (7) | Ian Flynt | Ismael Smith Flores* | Janiran Bonner* | Thomas Fidone* | ||
Eric Ingwerson | Nate Boerkircher* | |||||
Carter Nelson | ||||||
WR (13) | Jacory Barney Jr. | Jaidyn Doss* | Malachi Coleman | Alex Bullock | Jahmal Banks* | Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda* |
Quinn Clark | Demitrius Bell* | Jaylen Lloyd | Isaiah Neyor* | |||
Dae'vonn Hall | ||||||
Isaiah McMorris | ||||||
Keelan Smith | ||||||
OL (19) | Grant Brix | Gunnar Gottula* | Justin Evans* | Henry Lutovsky* | Micah Mazzccua* | Bryce Benhart* |
Landen Davidson | Sam Sledge* | Jacob Hood* | Teddy Prochazka* | Ben Scott | Turner Corcoran* | |
Jake Peters | Jason Maciejczak* | Tyler Knaak* | Ru'Quan Buckley* | |||
Gibson Pyle | Brock Knutson* | |||||
Preston Taumua | ||||||
DL (15) | Ashton Murphy | Mason Goldman* | Brodie Tagaloa* | Jimari Butler* | Nash Hutmacher | Ty Robinson* |
Keona Wilhite | Vincent Carroll-Jackson* | Kai Wallin* | AJ Rollins* | |||
Sua Lefotu* | Riley Van Poppel | Chief Borders* | ||||
Cameron Lenhardt | Elijah Jeudy* | |||||
LB (11) | Vincent Shavers | Dylan Rogers* | Gage Stenger* | Mikai Gbayor* | MJ Sherman | John Bullock* |
Willis McGahee IV | Maverick Noonan* | Princewill Umanmielen | Stefon Thompson* | Javin Wright* | ||
DB (24) | Caleb Benning | Dwight Bootle II* | Ethan Nation | Marques Buford* | DeShon Singleton | Isaac Gifford |
Mario Buford | Syncere Safeeullah* | Blye Hill | Koby Bretz* | Tommi Hill | ||
Roger Gradney | Rahmir Stewart* | Malcolm Hartzog | ||||
Rex Guthrie | Jeremiah Charles* | |||||
Donovan Jones | D'Andre Barnes* | |||||
Braylen Prude | Brice Turner* | |||||
Amare Sanders | ||||||
Larry Tarver Jr. | ||||||
Evan Taylor | ||||||
Amare Sanders | ||||||
ST (3) | Kamdyn Koch | Tristan Alvano | Brian Buschini* | |||
Class Total | 30 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 7 | 10 |
Overall Total: | 100 | |||||
*Redshirt |