Marqueston Huff is one of the proudest Wyoming Cowboys you will ever speak with.  The native of Texarkana, Texas, played for the Pokes from 2010-13.  He was a three-year starter for Wyoming -- the first two seasons at cornerback and his senior season at free safety  As a senior, he earned Second Team All-Mountain West Conference honors in voting by conference head coaches and media and was voted one of four team captains by his teammates.
 
As this year's NFL Draft approaches on April 23-25, we caught up with Huff who realized his dream of being drafted and playing in the NFL back when he was selected as the 24th pick in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans, the 122nd overall selection.   
 
Huff's senior season positioned him perfectly to realize his NFL dream.  He ranked No. 3 in the Mountain West and No. 9 in the nation in tackles his senior season, averaging 10.6 tackles per game.  Huff also averaged 6.2 solo tackles per game in 2013 to rank No. 2 in the conference and No. 9 in the NCAA in that category.  He led all Mountain West defensive backs in tackles in 2013, and intercepted two passes his senior season to end his Wyoming career with six, tying him for 11th in school history in interceptions at the time.  Huff's 127 tackles in 2013 also tied him for the 11th best single-season total in school history.  In his final regular-season game as a Cowboy, Huff was credited with 20 tackles at Utah State, tying him for the third best single-game performance in Cowboy history.  He earned Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance at Nebraska in the 2013  season opener, which the Cowboys narrowly lost, 34-37, in Lincoln to the No. 18 ranked Huskers.  Against Nebraska, Huff was credited with 18 tackles, forced one fumble, recovered one fumble and broke up one pass.  He started 35 of 49 games during his Wyoming career.
 
With his dream in sight of a future professional football career, Huff knew he had to focus on preparing for the upcoming NFL Draft.  He went on to play in the Senior Bowl following the 2013 season, and was invited to and participated in the 2014 NFL Draft Combine.  But by doing what so many college football players of this generation do and leaving their final college semester to train for the NFL Draft, he came up just shy of reaching his other goal, which was to complete his college degree. 
 
"When I was in Laramie I was originally set up to graduate in three and a half years," said Huff.  "I stayed up there all year round including the summer sessions, but my senior year I wasn't quite able to finish it.  After my senior season, I saw the opportunity to play in the NFL, so I took that spring semester to go train and get ready for the draft.  But graduating was really big for me.  Even more so than the goal I had to play in the NFL my biggest goal was to always graduate from college."
 
Professional Football Career
Since 2014, Huff has played professional football at the highest  level.  His rookie season, he played in 14 games and started one for the Titans, making 18 tackles, with 1.0 sack, two pass breakups and one interception that he returned 23 yards for a touchdown.  He followed up his rookie season by playing in 16 games in 2015, totaling 15 tackles and breaking up two passes.  Huff moved on to the Baltimore Ravens in 2016, appearing in 11 games.  He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in March 2017, but was later cut in July.  In 2018, Huff played in the preseason with the Dallas Cowboys before a groin injury later put him on the Cowboys' injured reserve list for the remainder of the season. 
 
In October of 2019, Huff was signed to play in the new XFL for the Houston Roughnecks.  He was living in Frisco, Texas, in the  Dallas-Fort Worth metro area when the Roughnecks contacted him to tell him they had selected him in the XFL Draft.  For Huff, it was an opportunity to both continue playing the game he loves, while also getting the opportunity to learn from another coaching staff -- coaching being a career Huff hopes to enter once he is done playing.
 
"I love the game, so it was an opportunity to go out there and play the game I love,"said Huff.  "It was hard to pass up.  The experience was great.  What I was more interested in was the coaching aspect.  I try to learn as much as I can and take as much as I can from every experience I've had with different teams.  I am at a point in my career that if I could coach right now I would do that.
 
"Ted Cottrell was out defensive coordinator at Houston, and he was an NFL coordinator for many years. Being around him and picking his brain was great.  June Jones was our head coach and is one of most innovative offensive minds in football.  It was just great to be around great football minds like that.  Not to mention being around some other veteran players and  younger guys.  I was one of the older guys on the team, so a lot of the younger guys were turning to me for information on how to be a pro.  It was great to get that experience in a mentor role to some of those younger guys and teach them  how to approach every day."  
 
In the Roughnecks' season-opening 37-17 win over the Los Angeles Wildcats, Huff recorded five tackles, including four solo tackles.  His best individual game was a six-tackle performance in a 34-27 win over the Tampa Bay Vipers in Week 3.  When the 2020 XFL season was forced to end after the fifth week of the season due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Houston was the only undefeated team in the league at 5-0.  Huff recorded 20 total tackles for the Roughnecks  in those five games to rank among the Top 30 of all XFL defensive players in tackles on the season.
 
He has had many great memories from his time in professional football, but one particular moment stands out.  "My rookie year with Tennessee, I was playing against Eli Manning, who I was a big fan of, I got my first interception against him and returned  it for a pick six.  That is something I will never forget."
 
Graduation
Always in the forefront of his mind was to complete his college degree, and so he reconnected with the University of Wyoming to find out how he could accomplish his ultimate goal.
 
"When I had some down time I started working on finishing my degree," said Huff.  "The academic staff at Wyoming did a great job of working with me.  Al Reiser (Assistant Athletics Director for Academic Services) particularly did a great job of walking me through the whole process.
 
Huff had two classes to finish up his degree when he started back.  He majored in communication at UW during his time on campus, but when completing his degree online he ended up receiving his bachelor's degree in general studies from UW in August of 2019.  When he talks about receiving his degree, his pride in being a Wyoming graduate comes through loud and clear.
 
"In my family, I don't have that many who can say they graduated from college, so for me to do that it meant a lot to me and it meant a lot to my family," said Huff.  "My wife was always great about keeping me motivated and it  was important for me to show my kids that once you start something it is important for you to not stop until you finish it. 
 
"The day I got my degree that whole day my face was lit up.  I couldn't stop smiling. I took a picture of it and sent it to everyone in my phone.  It is something I really cherish and it meant so much to me."
 
Family
Speaking of family, since leaving Wyoming after his final college season in 2013 Huff and wife Sherell have a 13-year old daughter, Samari, a five-year old daughter, Laila, and three-year old Marqueston II, who they call 'two'. 
 
"My wife Sherell and I have three beautiful children, two girls and a boy," said Huff.  "Sherell and I have known each other since high school back in Texarkana.  She is the sister of my former Wyoming teammate, Trey Norman.  Our marriage has been a blessing."
 
And do his children have dreams of following their father's footsteps and becoming athletes themselves?
 
"My 13-year old loves to play basketball and she's really good," said Huff.  "My five-year old and three-year old like to play too, but I just want to let them be kids right now because once you start becoming an athlete everything becomes more serious and competitive.  My five-year old will probably start playing organized basketball soon.  She likes that.  My three-year old, I know he probably will want to be like his dad and play football.  He tells me he wants to be a football player, but I may try to convince him to be a doctor or something a little more stable." 
  
Memories From His Playing Days at Wyoming
Asked what some of his favorite memories were from playing at Wyoming, Huff said, "Beating CSU three times during my career is the first thing I think of.  I also remember my very first game playing collegiate football.  It  was versus Southern Utah and I made an over-the-shoulder catch on punt coverage to down the ball at their one-yard line with less than two minutes to go in the game which helped seal  that win.  It was at that moment where I really thought to myself maybe I do belong at this level.  Also my freshman season,  I intercepted a pass against Utah, which was a ranked team at the time (No 11).  There are just so many memories."
 
His Next Goal is to Coach
Coaching is Huff's next dream, and his ultimate dream would be to return to the University of Wyoming one day to coach.
 
"I've played at the highest level and have learned so much from all the coaches I've worked with that I now feel like I have gained a lot of knowledge and have so much to give back to younger players -- not just to develop them as players  but to help them grow as men,"said Huff.
 
"Of course the dream come true would be to come back to Laramie someday and coach  the Cowboys.  I've stayed in touch with a lot of the coaches who coached me when I was at Wyoming -- Coach (Renaldo) Hill, Coach (Alex) Grinch, Coach C (Dave Christensen), Coach (Marty) English.  They meant a lot to me when I was at Wyoming.  They helped me grow from being a high school kid into becoming a man while I was up there.  Those guys taught me so much about the game of football and showed me how to mature as a man and made me better as a whole.
    
"Laramie and the state of Wyoming was always great to me.  It would be an amazing thing for me if someday I could return there in any role.  It is a community that I felt shaped me into who I am.  The people and the community were wonderful."
 
There may be no prouder Poke than Marqueston Huff.  Proud to be a former Cowboy player, proud to be a Wyoming graduate and proud to have been part of the Wyoming community which he represented so well on and off the field.