How family, cheese dip and 'Power-5 mentality' led Marquis Burks to Auburn
Marquis Burks never got off the hook easily. And that was the way he intended it.
Burks was up front with his coaching staff at Iowa Central Community College. His goals were transparent: “I want to play Power Five.”
Turrell Foster heard him loud and clear, and he refused to get off Burks’ case.
“Every day when we left for practice, whatever it was, everything was a P-5 mentality for him all the time,” said Foster, who was Burks’ defensive line coach at Iowa Central last season. “If he wasn’t practicing right or he wasn’t doing well in the classroom, I reminded him, ‘Hey, that isn’t going to get you where you want to be, so what are you doing?’ He needed to mature to get to where he wanted to be.
“And you know what, he did it.”
All the nagging and tough love — and Burks’ own relentless chase of his ultimate goal — paid off in the end. On National Signing Day 2020, Burks committed to and signed with Auburn, his lone Power Five offer. He’s one of two JUCO defensive linemen in Auburn’s 2020 class, joining Dre Butler of Independence, Kans.
The emphasis on experience for Auburn’s D-line room made plenty of sense for Gus Malzahn, after it graduated SEC Defensive Player of the Year Derrick Brown and All-American Marlon Davidson.
“I really feel like we needed some guys that had experience (on the defensive line), losing the guys that we had,” Gus Malzahn said on signing day.
Auburn’s defensive coaching staff, particularly D-line coach Rodney Garner, knows grit and potential when they see it, and those two factors best describe Burks and his story: a tough, seasoned and ultra-talented athlete whose journey from Chicago to a JUCO in Iowa to Auburn defines him just as much as his football abilities do.
“Meeting his family and seeing where he’s from — it’s special to see him fulfill his dreams of playing,” Foster said of Burks. “To be honest, I didn’t know if he could be a Power Five guy. I didn’t know that. Only he knew that.
"And he proved it. He really proved it.”
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As much as Burks tries to explain, there’s no way his little sisters are going to understand it fully right now.
Every chance he got while he was home in Chicago before heading down to Alabama, he talked to his siblings about Auburn — about the place he would be moving soon, about the team he was set to join.
“I show my little sisters stuff every day (about Auburn),” Burks told AuburnSports.com in early May, before Auburn’s summer enrollees had to report to campus. “But of course they don’t understand how big it is (to go to Auburn) yet.”
Burks is the oldest of five — two little brothers and two little sisters. While back in Chicago, he tried to savor quality time with his siblings and his parents.
“Everybody is home,” Burks said. “My dad, my mom, my little siblings, they’re all home. And it’s just, really for me, being back around them is great, because I was really gone (at JUCO) for two years.”
Of course, it wasn’t all relaxation and visiting. He had Auburn strength coach Ryan Russell’s quarantine workout plans to follow.
Often, Burks went to a local football field with some high school friends to work out. Other times, the drills and exercises were executed in the comfort of his own home. In those cases, a certain 7-year-old was watching closely, eager to be just like his older brother.
“I’m getting my little brother to work out and stuff, too, because he just started to play football,” Burks laughed. “He’s really just been sitting around the house, then he sees me working out so now he wants to join in with me.”
Burks’ family is his support line; it’s a “huge part” of who he was, who he is, and who he wants to become.
“Growing up in Chicago, he has such a great support staff,” Foster said. “Meeting his family and seeing where he’s from — it’s special to see him fulfill his dreams of playing.”
While there were times at Iowa Central Community College that Burks felt homesick, he was raised to be independent in Chicago. “Your family’s not going to be there” on the bus to school or around town, he explained. But every time he missed his parents and siblings, he tried to remember why he was there — what led him to the JUCO route, and what he hoped to accomplish.
Burks’ best offers immediately out of Curie Metro High School were Toledo and Western Michigan. He chose Iowa Central out of a handful of JUCO options.
Immediately, Burks felt the difference of playing at the college level versus high school — a “fun and challenging” experience, but also an uphill climb.
“My freshman year, it was real tough for me,” Burks said. “I went from being the star player on my high school team to being a third-string or second-string defensive tackle.”
Foster didn’t get his hands on Burks until the defensive lineman’s sophomore season in 2019, when the coach switched sides of the ball after serving as the team’s running backs coach the year prior.
Burks was ready to become an impact player under Foster’s direction. He had earned his stripes — or so he thought.
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When Iowa Central coaches passed out depth charts prior to the 2019 season, Burks found his name at the bottom of the defensive tackles.
His aspirations of becoming a star player on the defense in Year 2 were now the least of Burks’ worries; he wasn’t even a starter.
“[Foster] saw that I was getting mad that I was at the bottom of the list,” Burks said. “He said he did that purposefully to see me get mad.”
Foster was only doing what Burks had asked. The D-lineman wasn’t up to his own “Power Five mentality” standards and the principles he had put in place for his own success.
“I wanted to make sure he knew that I didn’t think he was working hard enough to be a player for us and to be the player he says he was going to be,” Foster said.
The gimmick worked. It set Burks ablaze.
“It motivated me going into the season,” Burks said. “… [Foster] was testing my limits, and I appreciate him to this day for that.”
Burks didn’t look back from that point. The 6-foot-3, 305-pounder rose up the depth chart as he began feasting on opposing offensive lines. Offers started rolling in, too, from the likes of Liberty, New Mexico State, Louisiana and others. There was still work to be done to get that elusive Power Five letter, though.
“That changed him,” Foster said of the depth chart plot. “He woke up. I mean, he had a lot of experiences change him, and that one was big. He moved into more of a leadership role, too, for us. He continued to work and get better.
“But the cool thing about Marquis is his potential was about at the roof. He still hasn’t even really touched it.”
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In recent years, Auburn has had some of the best player nicknames in college football, and that’s not likely to change in 2020. The current roster has Smoke, Tank, Flash and Big Kat this year, among others.
And another intriguing yet somehow fitting moniker is coming soon.
Burks’ favorite food is queso. Luckily, there are plenty of good spots in Auburn for cheese dip buffs. His adoration for the appetizer was so well known at Iowa Central that it bled over to the football team — in some cases, into the middle of games.
Thus, Big Cheese was born.
“I call him the Big Cheese because he loves queso,” Foster said. “I just thought it was really funny.”
And it stuck with coaches and players. On key defensive plays — a third down, goal-to-go, etc. — Foster and the other Iowa Central defensive staffers needed their star defensive tackle to lead the charge in getting a big stop or blowing up a play.
They directed their shouts at Burks, jumping around and yelling, “Hey, Big Cheese! Let’s go, Big Cheese!”
That was Burks’ coaching staff at Iowa Central: always looking for ways to inspire, working to squeeze every ounce of potential out of their players, most of whom, like Burks, dreamed of playing major college football.
“Really, they helped me so much getting my motivation right,” Burks said of lessons learned from the JUCO route. “They taught me how to be that different player, how to flip that switch. I feel like I had that connection with them where I could joke around, but when it comes to football, we all knew what’s up.
“They taught me that.”
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Auburn offered Burks after the Tritons’ first game of the 2019 season, but he hadn’t met Rodney Garner in person.
During Auburn’s bye week between the Florida and Arkansas games, Garner flew to see Burks play on a Saturday against rival Dodge City. Burks only played the first half but was able to record a 12-yard sack and two tackles for loss in front of his future position coach.
“To do it in front of Coach G, it really meant a lot to me,” Burks said.
But he couldn’t link up with Garner that day, either. It wasn’t until the regular season concluded for both Auburn and Iowa Central that Garner made another trip to see Burks, who didn’t commit to the Tigers until signing day.
“He really just came to check on me, check on my grades and stuff like that, and really see how things were going,” Burks said. “But I was a little shell shocked when I first saw him because Coach G is a legend.
"Then it hit me: Man, I’m going to get to play for Coach G.”
Burks knew Garner’s track record of producing NFL draft picks along the defensive front before Auburn had offered. He said most college defensive linemen do.
But only a select few are given a shot to become the next in line.
Garner will take advantage of Burks’ experience bouncing both inside and outside over the years along the defensive line. As a 224-pound prospect out of high school, Burks was recruited as an end before bulking up at Iowa Central and kicking inside. Burks said he’s had conversations with his defensive coaches at Auburn, and he’ll have the ability to flex that versatility at both positions when the time comes.
With three years to play two seasons, Burks is looked at as a quality depth piece in 2020. Even if he doesn’t receive a ton of playing time next season, it’s possible both D-tackle starters will be seniors in Tyrone Truesdell and Daquan Newkirk.
But Burks knows nothing is being handed to him as a Tiger. He’s achieved his long sought-after Power Five goal. Now the next objective is to see the field and be a difference maker for his new team.
Luckily for Burks, he has plenty of experience climbing depth charts.
“He kind of looks like those guys [Garner] brings in and those guys they develop that prosper and get drafted,” Foster said of Burks. “He just does some things that other guys can’t do with how explosive he is and how good he is off the ball, even at practice. The way he moves his hands is just different. Now you’re talking to about going to a program with Coach Garner, who is one of the best D-line coaches in the nation and has been around so many great players and has coached so many great players? Man, once he gets his hands on him, the sky’s the limit with the potential he has.
“His mindset has definitely changed from his freshman to his sophomore year, and I think that’s where that experience Gus (Malzahn) was talking about comes in. [Auburn] can continue to develop him, and then he’ll help us at some point and be a player. I think Marquis can be that type of kid at Auburn.”
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