The Nebraska football team added one of the most proven veteran linebackers left in the transfer portal on Saturday. In doing so, the Huskers won a head-to-head matchup with former defensive coordinator Tony White.
Marques Watson-Trent comes to Lincoln by way of Georgia Southern where he finished the 2024 campaign as the Sun Belt conference defensive player of the year after posting 120 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles.
The Nebraska football team gets a linebacker who seems like he’ll step right into a starting role. That’s quite important for new defensive coordinator John Butler as he tries to fill quite a few holes caused by graduation and transfers.
Nebraska football adds veteran linebacker to rebuilding defense
Over the last three seasons, Watson-Trent had 120, 116 and 113 tackles. Interestingly enough, he also helped usher former head coach Scott Frost out the door.
In Georgia Southern’s 2022 win over the Huskers in Lincoln, the linebacker announced his presence with authority, logging 10 tackles in the 45-42 victory.
It’s not clear how many more transfer players the Huskers are planning on taking, though they do have a few more visits lined up this month. At the moment, NU has added 13 transfer portal players.
That number is easily the most Nebraska football has gotten from the portal since Matt Rhule took over the program. Granted, they’ve lost more contributors (especially on defense) than they have in past years as well. It’s clear that Marques Watson-Trent will be quite the contributor in 2025, should everything go right.