Mac Markway joined the Nebraska football team as a needed reinforcement for the tight end room. Now he'll look to try and help out the defensive line instead.
After suffering two ACL injuries to the same knee in consecutive seasons, Markway hasn't been able to step foot on the field for the Huskers. Now, with all the changes to NU's roster and the coaching staff, the former top recruit and LSU Tiger believes he might have a better chance of seeing playing time for the new defensive coaches, Rob Aurich and Roy Manning.
Markway went to the Nebraska coaching staff this winter and suggested a move to defensive end, from his usual tight end position. "God spoke to Mac about a change and Mac felt destined to be a Blackshirt great," his father Matt Markway told the Omaha World-Herald.
Why Mac Markway is moving from tight end to defensive end at Nebraska
The move isn't totally out of the blue. The younger Markway was a top-250 national prospect — and No. 14 tight end, according to 247 Sports — in the 2023 class out of De Smet Jesuit High School in the St. Louis metro. He was a two-way starter there when healthy, including as a rush end.
Markway committed to LSU out of high school and appeared in 12 games with the Bayou Bengals as a true freshman in 2023. In those appearances, he made 3 catches for 16 yards.
Just before training camp in 2024, he made a sudden and very under-the-radar jump to the Cornhuskers. Showing up unannounced and never actually entering the transfer portal, his arrival even surprised Nebraska coaches late in training camp.
Unfortunately, he suffered his first ACL tear just days after he arrived in Lincoln. After rehabbing during the season and over the winter and spring, Markway hoped to be a contributor to a revamped Nebraska offense in 2025. Instead, his surgically repaired knee failed again, and he had to sit out the entire season.