Mac Markway’s road at Nebraska has already been unusual, and now it’s taking another turn.
The former LSU tight end arrived as a surprise addition to the Huskers a few years ago, with then-offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield finding out about the transfer during a press conference. Not long after that, Markway tore his ACL. Then last year, he tore the same ACL again early in fall camp.
Now he’s healthy enough to try something new, and Nebraska has moved him to defensive end.
That switch happened earlier this year, but Markway’s rehab kept him from really showing the staff what he could do until camp. At that point, head coach Matt Rhule started getting a better look, and he likes what he sees - especially the effort.
“There's two types of football players,” the Nebraska head coach said at his press conference earlier this week. “Those who you have to tell to speed up all the time, those you have to tell to slow down. He'd run through a brick wall if it's in front of him, for no other reason other than it's there.”
Rhule also said again that the idea to move came from Markway himself. Before fully walking away from football, he wanted one more shot - this time on defense.
The move isn’t as strange as it might sound. Markway was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school, and while he chose tight end at LSU, other schools wanted him on the defensive side.
With a full camp behind him and his body finally cooperating, he’s starting to show why that might have been the better fit all along.
"He can bend the corner. He can go speed to power, he can set edges. He's really, really, really an explosive athlete unlike many," Rhule said.
Rhule said Saturday he was eager to study the film from Nebraska’s first fall scrimmage, where he saw Markway moving around but couldn’t fully track every snap. If the new defensive end showed the staff what Rhule believes he did - including defensive coordinator Rob Aurich - Markway could be on his way to starting for Nebraska at a spot almost nobody saw coming.
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