Marques Cox played in his high school state title game with a torn ACL

ZGeogheganKSR

The Big Blue Nation is going to gain a new fan favorite with Northern Illinois transfer Marques Cox. Why? Because he’s willing to play through the pain to do what’s best for his team.

Following Tuesday’s practice, the Kentucky football offensive lineman snuck in a quick mention of how he played in his high school’s state championship game as a junior despite going down with a major injury.

“I actually tore my ACL my junior year,” Cox told reporters. “I tore it in the semifinals, then played in the state championship, then I had to have surgery after that.”

Hold up, he did what now? Cox said it so nonchalantly that you would have thought he was referring to a twisted ankle. But nope, he suffered an injury that typically requires at least nine months of recovery time but instead saw him take the field the very next week. And as you might have guessed, his team still won the Illinois Class 5A state championship — the first in school history, too.

“It happens,” he said with a shrug, followed by laughs from the reporters poking microphones into his face. “Sometimes stuff happens in life and you just gotta power through. That was one of those instances.”

Even though he powered through the injury, the ensuing surgery limited him ahead of his senior season at Peoria High School. Although he hauled in over a dozen Divison I offers during his high school career, only one was from a Power 5 group — Iowa State, which pulled that offer once he went down with the knee injury. Cox ultimately landed at Northern Illinois, where he spent the last five years before transferring to Kentucky during the offseason.

Arriving at UK was a fulfilling moment in his life.

“Always believed I could play at this level,” Cox said. “Growing up, a lot of people said I was gonna play in the SEC. Just being at this level now is a blessing and I’m highly grateful for being here today.”

Cox came to Lexington with the intention to help rebuild Kentucky’s offensive line. The Big Blue Wall hit a low point in 2022 as the worst offensive line in the SEC and one of the worst in all of college football. But head coach Mark Stoops and his staff made it a point to fix those issues. Cox was one of a handful of transfers at that position that chose UK during the offseason. So far this summer, he’s looking the part of a bonafide SEC starting left tackle — arguably the most important position on the line.

“We’re very fortunate. Just being a really good football player but also just the type of human being he is. He fits. He would be a guy that Coach Stoops and Coach (John) Schlarman would have recruited back in the day,” Kentucky offensive line coach Zach Yenser said of Cox on Tuesday. “He’s that type of a guy that fits what Coach Stoops has built here.

“But yes I was shocked. We had to battle for him and obviously we did a good job in recruiting and Vince (Marrow) targeted him early and we got on him. You watch what he did in past years at Northern Illinois and what he did to us the first 27 snaps before he got hurt, we were very lucky to find him.”

Landing Cox was certainly a significant addition, but he’ll need to stay healthy this season. After his ACL tear as a high school junior, he was clean until last season, when (as Yenser mentions) he ironically, for lack of a better word, suffered a season-ending injury against Kentucky in what was just the fourth game on the schedule. Cox had torn ligaments in his foot between his big toe and the rest of his phalanges.

Luckily, as of the spring, he’s fully healthy once again. But more importantly, he’s not being forced to push himself in ways this offseason that might cause him to reinjure himself — a credit to his new head coach.

“It’s great, it’s great,” Cox said of his time at Kentucky so far. “Coach Stoops does a great job of taking care of our bodies, make sure come in and get our work, and then he gives us some time off so that way we can take a nap, chill, get rehab, people was going through school at the time. He does a great job giving us time and helping us take care of our bodies.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Cox allowed just three sacks in over 1,000 snaps during his time at NIU. He was one of the top available linemen in the portal and figures to start right away for the ‘Cats where he’ll protect another transfer, quarterback Devin Leary.

Cox sure seems like a trustworthy addition to aid in rebuilding the Big Blue Wall. Get to know his name now.