Career
• Transferred to Kentucky after five seasons at Northern Illinois (2018-2022)
• Played in 61 career games with 59 starts (34 of 36 games at NIU; 25 of 25 at UK)

2024 – *Senior
• Totaled 72 blocks at the point of attack and a team-high 21 knockdown blocks
• Graded at 73 percent for the season and had an assignment grade of 99 percent
• Preseason Third Team All-SEC (Athlon)
• Preseason Fourth Team All-SEC (Phil Steele)
• Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List

2023 – Senior
• Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List
• Earned his first start at UK in the season opener vs. Ball State at left tackle and has started in all 13 games

2022 – Junior (Northern Illinois)
• Started in four games at left tackle before missing the final eight due to a season-ending injury at Kroger Field in a loss to Kentucky
• Named to Phil Steele’s 2021 All-Mid-American Conference Team

2021 – Sophomore (Northern Illinois)
• Named to Phil Steele’s All-MAC fourth team after starting all 14 games at left tackle
• Part of an offensive line that helped the Huskies garnered the fourth-best offensive rushing attack in FBS with 241.4 yards/game
• NIU gave up just 10 sacks in 14 games to rank second in the country
• The Huskies’ 319 firsts downs ranked 14th nationally and NIU was 12th in red zone offense
• Helped clear the way for 13 100-yard rushing games by four different backs during the year
• Protected QB Rocky Lombardi’s blindside as the Huskie quarterback threw for a career-high 532 yards and three touchdowns on 35-of-57 passing at Kent State (11-3)
• The Huskie offense remained on the field for more than 40 minutes twice on the year

2020 – Sophomore (Northern Illinois)
• Started in six games at left tackle
• Anchored a line that helped the NIU offense average 365.7 yards of total offense per game
• Played a key role in helping tailback Harrison Waylee to back-to-back 110-yard rushing games to end the season
• Provided protection on Ross Bowers’ 300-yard passing game at Ball State (11-18), a season-best passing for NIU

2019 – r-Freshman (Northern Illinois)
• Started in 10 of 12 games played as a key member of the offensive line and a special teams contributor
• Member of an offensive line that led NIU to a season-high 274 rushing yards vs. Akron (10-26)
• NIU tallied a season-high 510 yards of total offense at Ohio (10-12), the first 500-yard games since 2017, and averaged 7.2 yards a play
• One of two freshman to starting on the Huskie offensive line
• Charted two tackles

2018 – Freshman (Northern Illinois)
• Redshirt season

High School
• Rated a three-star recruit by 247Sports coming out of high school and the 32nd-ranked player in Illinois
• Named first team All-State by the Champaign News-Gazette
• Selected to the All-State Offense by EdgyTim
• Earned All-Big Twelve Conference accolades as a senior while also picking up All-Area accolades from the Peoria Journal-Star his junior and senior years
• Started at tackle for a record-setting offense at Peoria that scored 805 points, including 91 rushing TDs, and gained 7,753 total yards
• As a defensive lineman, registered 73 total tackles and 13 sacks … Intercepted one pass and blocked a field goal his senior year
• Important part of the Peoria High School team that won the first Class 5A State Football Championship in school history in 2016
• Coached by Tim Thornton
• Also participated in wrestling and track and field at Peoria High School
• Finished sixth in the 285-pound weight class at the 2018 state wrestling championship

Personal
• Name is pronounced “Marcus”
• Born in Peoria, Illinois
• Son of Ruthie and Gregory Cox
• Has two brothers, Maurice and Martez
• Graduated from NIU in May of ’22 with a degree in marketing with a professional sales certificate … Completed an undergraduate certificate in business in December of ’23 … Earned a graduate certificate in sport, fitness and recreation management in December of ’24

Marques Says
• His nickname is “Big Marq”
• He chose Kentucky because the people were amazing and it felt like home
• His dream job is to be a stay-at-home dad
• Three words to describe him are nice, funny and respectful
• His favorite family recipe to make is his mom Ruthie’s chicken and potatoes