Nebraska Football: Husker DB Marques Buford Jr. on beating UTEP (Aug. 31, 2024)

hey Maris uh coach R mentioned um coming out to the uh out to the Huddle after um after the turnover after the turnover that your offense had you guys were getting ready to go and he was going to try to fire you up and you had you had some words what what what's uh what's going on there with the defensive leadership in in that moment of the game at seven to seven you guys just turned the ball over um honestly it's I told him you know we've been we've been preparing for this all off seon I seen him walking over like he I could see it in his face he was getting ready to try to get us riled up but soon as we saw the soon as we saw it happen everybody popped up off the bench super fast uh stormed out on the field ready to go so I just let him know like hey we we good we know exactly what to do right now um you know and it just falls back on everything that we've been speaking about this this offseason leading up into this game about just playing great complimentary football and always having you know your brothers back you know something bad happens to somebody on the team is it's next play we got to make them right at all times so that's honestly what the mentality was for the whole defense how did it feel to be back at cornerback after playing some time at safety um it felt it felt fine you know I've been playing a little bit of everything uh this this off season but you know you know I've I grew up playing Corner played Corner in high school and stuff so you know it felt it felt natural it was really fun you know being back out on that island but um I couldn't be happy more happy to be at a position to help the team is my biggest thing what do you see from guys after they had that one drive the three plays where they really put their on the p and scor what was sort of the reaction on the sil how um it was was it was nothing different than what we saw from both sides of the ball this off season you know we did a lot of competing this this off season and all Camp leading up to the season um so we knew exactly what the offense was going to go out there and do and vice versa honestly um it was no surprise to anybody when they had that long drive and capitalized with us touchdown at the end of it and you know on the flip side I feel like they didn't really have any surprise in them at how we came out and we played on the defensive end the last few years how nice is it to have an opener like this you played openers in Ireland and at Illinois on the road last year in Minnesota to be back at home in a game like this where you empti the bench I mean how different does this state feel maybe compared to some of those pass openers um it's just great to start the season um one and0 honestly you know coming out is it's good for everybody that a lot of guys got to play um that was our goal get the guys who help us all week week to prepare for the game in the game you know and you know we we met that goal and I couldn't be more happy seeing those guys out on the field cuz those are some of the hardest working men I've ever been around you know they come out each and every day giving us the best looks possible um so just being able to have them get that experience to play in Memorial and you know it's not everybody gets to play in a college football game so it was it was very it made me happy see them guys on the field having fun especially you know they didn't it was no drop off to me like you know they went out there and they played exactly to the standard that we play at and it was special to see what's it like when they switch quarterbacks mid game and then switch back does that sort of uh throw you for a loop on defense at all or change anything um not really you know we did a lot of we watch a lot of film we have a lot of meetings so you know we kind of knew exactly each quarter back style of play we expected both of them to play coming into this game so there was no really surprise or shock or anything when that um ended up happening you know it was more so anything like all right this guy is tapping out we got another one to make tap out so what how important is it coach talk about turnovers and winning the turnover battle plus one plus two whatever to set the tone that hey you guys can do this since it didn't happen much last year um you know this this offseason and this Camp take getting takeaways and taking care of the ball was something we really harped on over and over and over again every day from you know just making sure that we're very intentional about how we practice with holding the ball on offense and punching at the ball and ripping at the ball on defense so um I think it was it was more so you know a lot of these guys are the same people um from defense as side at least but you know just intentionality makes makes a big difference on how how good stuff can be all good all right thank you Mar