Marques Watson-Trent Season 2025

Before Nebraska (Blackhawk HS/Georgia Southern)
Marques Watson-Trent spent five seasons at Georgia Southern before transferring to Nebraska. In his Eagle career, Watson-Trent played in 49 games with 37 starts. He was a prolific tackler, ranking second on Georgia Southern’s all-time tackles list with 363 stops, including three seasons with more than 100 tackles and 16 games with double-figure tackles.

Watson-Trent added 26.0 tackles for loss, 6.0 sacks, eight pass breakups, two interceptions and six forced fumbles in his Georgia Southern career. He was a three-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection, the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an honorable-mention All-American. Watson-Trent was also a two-time Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week selection at Georgia Southern.

In 2024, Watson-Trent started 12 games and led the Eagles with 118 tackles. He recorded 7.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and broke up one pass while forcing four fumbles, a total which ranked fifth nationally. Watson-Trent had double-figure tackles in six of his 13 games. He was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year and was a first-team all-conference selection.

Watson-Trent started all 13 games in 2023, when he was a first-team All-Sun Belt honoree and a Phil Steele honorable-mention All-American. He totaled a team-high 122 tackles with 13 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, four pass breakups, two interceptions and a forced fumble. He returned one of his interceptions 50 yards for a touchdown. Watson-Trent had more than a dozen tackles five times in 2023.

In his first season as a full-time starter, Watson-Trent played in 13 games with 11 starts in 2022. He led the Eagles with 114 tackles and added 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, three pass breakups and one forced fumble. Watson-Trent had 10 or more tackles five times in 2022, including his first career game with double-digit tackles at Nebraska.

Watson-Trent started the season opener in 2021 and recorded three tackles before suffering a season-ending injury that resulted in a medical hardship for that season. He began his career by playing in 10 games and recording six tackles in the 2020 Covid season.

Before starring at Georgia Southern, Watson-Trent was a two-way standout for Blackhawk High School in Pennsylvania. As a senior, Watson-Trent was a second-team all-state selection and was his conference’s offensive player of the year as a running back as well as earning first-team all-conference accolades at linebacker. He rushed for 1,222 and scored 22 touchdowns as a senior while recording 112 tackles on defense with five forced fumbles and two interception returns for touchdowns.

Watson-Trent earned his degree in interdisciplinary studies – business from Georgia Southern.