Inside The Huskies

Huskies Pursue This Super Mario From Texas

The cornerback plays for Dallas-area powerhouse DeSoto High.
Dan Raley|
Huskies Pursue This Super Mario From Texas
Huskies Pursue This Super Mario From Texas

Fifteen miles south of Dallas, Eagle Stadium seats 11,000 people. It offers a double-deck grandstand for fans of the home team. Yes, it has a press box elevator.

Most junior colleges don't play in anything quite so nice.

This is home to DeSoto High School football, one of the powerhouse programs in Texas. Twenty of its players have gone on to play in the NFL, including five currently turning up on pro rosters.

Von Miller, Tatum Bell, Laviska Shenault, Marcus Tubbs and A.J. Green are just a few of the more prominent DeSoto alums to take their games to the highest level.

Mario Buford is next up.

On November 8, he turned 16.

Considered one of the nation's top cornerbacks for the Class of 2024, the precocious Buford already holds a dozen offers with another 12 schools just beginning their courtship of him.

Kalen DeBoer's new University of Washington coaching staff has shown a propensity for seeking out Texas football talent and a week and a half ago the Huskies offered a scholarship to the 5-foot-11, 165-pound defensive back.

Buford's brother Marques just finished his freshman season as a Nebraska cornerback who played in every game. Of course, the Cornhuskers would gladly welcome the younger sibling and have offered him.

Oregon, Louisville, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Illinois, SMU and Boston College are other suitors. 

For an 11-3 DeSoto team that made the 6A playoffs, Buford showed great coverage skills and came up with 18 tackles and an interception. He's just getting started. 

However, this prospect has more than football on his mind. He and his family did a school district video promoting DeSoto and this motivated teenager said he wanted to study mechanical engineering and earn a Masters degree in college.

"The reason I want to get my Masters degree because I know I won't be able to play football my whole life," Buford said.

Still, football factors heavily into his world. He wears the green and white uniform with authority, and the helmet with a DE sticker above the ear hole . He's been inspired by players such as Deion Sanders to become a lockdown corner.

While he can't play forever, UW recruiters would gladly settle for three or four years of his time.  

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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