How two Peoria natives ended up playing offensive line for the Kentucky football team

PEORIA — Marques Cox and Courtland Ford started their NFL dream as kids in Peoria, and may finish it on the same offensive line at University of Kentucky.

The Peoria natives have taken different football paths, but they've ended up in the same place in the 2023 college season.

Cox is the starting offensive left tackle for Kentucky. Ford is a former starting left tackle at USC who is now in the rotation at offensive right tackle with Kentucky and pressing for a starting role.

"I met Marques and we had instant chemistry, two Peoria guys," said Ford, laughing. "We've had some things to talk about with our hometown.

"I still have family there, and in fact I was just in Peoria for a family reunion. I've been back for Manual-Central football games, been in front of those teams invited to talk to those guys."

Cox played for Peoria High School's 2016 state champions. Played that game, in fact, on a torn ACL, which indirectly cost him an offer from Iowa State. He went on to spend parts of five seasons at Northern Illinois — where Pro Football Focus says he allowed only three sacks in over 1,000 career snaps — before transferring this season to Kentucky.

The Athletic rates Cox as the fifth-best senior offensive tackle prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft class.

"I have always been confident I could play at this level, I just needed a chance to show it," Cox said. "As a kid in Peoria, a lot of people would say I was going to play in the SEC when I got older. For me, playing at this level of the game is a blessing. I'm going to do whatever I can to take it another step."

Ford tough

Courtland Ford is massive at 6-foot-6, 315 pounds. He was born in Peoria and got his first taste of football here.

"I started playing in Peoria at age 5-6 in flag football," he said. "I moved to Texas when I was 9, and let me tell you football in Texas was a whole different world, an eye-opener. They live and breathe it there."

The junior was a three-star recruit and the No. 52 ranked offensive tackle in the 2020 class. He initially committed to LSU and was courted by Purdue and Minnesota before choosing USC.

He played 20 games for the Trojans — including 12 starts at offensive left tackle — over three years and went into the 2022 season at USC as a projected 2023 NFL Draft first-round pick (going to Buffalo) by CBS Sports.

But he suffered a severe ankle injury, and then a bout with mono, and his season was derailed, setting the stage for his transfer. He made that move for the 2023 season after seeing how Kentucky treated his father, Clinton Ford.

"I relied on my dad a lot in making a decision in the transfer portal," the offensive lineman said. "Everywhere we went at Kentucky my dad was treated with respect. That was important to me, because I believe the way a program treats your family indicates how it's going to treat you.

"I'm going to go as far as I can in this game. We all want to be NFL players. I'm just a level away now, and working for my chance."

Cox looks back at Peoria High

Kentucky senior Marques Cox started his football journey at age 5, playing in Woodruff's flag program.

"I just fell in love with the game," he said. "It's the physical nature of football, but also it's the brotherhood off the field with your teammates that I love."

Cox earned Journal Star all-area honors as a junior and senior and as a junior helped Kendrick Green lead Peoria High to the Class 5A state title in 2016 under head coach Tim Thornton. He started at tackle for a record-setting offense at Peoria that scored 805 points, including 91 rushing TDs, and gained 7,753 total yards in 2016. He was also a defensive lineman, and registered 73 total tackles, 13 sacks in his prep career.

"I talk to Coach Thornton now and then, talk to the coaches on that team almost monthly," Cox said. "Those ties never break. That 2016 championship team was the right place at the right time for me. Being with Kendrick Green there, it helped me get seen and recruited. Playing there, with all that coaching and talent around me, I picked up the game very quickly.

"And I liked how Thornton treated you like a man, taught you how to prepare and take care of business and that's what we all did."

Cox went on to start 34 of 36 games at Northern Illinois, then jumped into the NCAA transfer portal because he wanted to prove he could play at a higher level. He was chased by Ohio State, Oklahoma and several other Power 5 schools but chose Kentucky.

Scouts say Cox is a technician as a pass blocker, has powerful hands and a strong punch, delivers nasty power as a run blocker and is agile enough to pull and reach the secondary level.

And he studies NFL players he wants to emulate.

"I watch Dolphins offensive tackle Terron Armstead and 49ers offensive tackle Trent Williams," Cox said. "I study their technique. But I also want to see how they are winning matchups against elite players. How do they react, how do they deal with that adversity?"

And how can it all help him make that last step to a dream he's had since he was a kid on that Woodruff field?

"This season is going great for me," Cox said. "I'm blessed to be in this place. I worked so hard to get here, years and years of playing and preparing and battling.

"God willing, I will make it to the NFL."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Kentucky football: Two Peoria natives on UK Wildcats offensive line