Cincinnati Adds Marshall Defensive Tackle Marques Aiken
By Chris Bains
During Cincinnati’s open practice on Saturday the Bearcats hosted a special visitor in Thundering Herd defensive tackle Marques Aiken. He had been looking for a new home for a couple of weeks now since graduating from Marshall. And now it appears that he’s chosen UC as his next and final team. Aiken should be eligible to suit up for the Bearcats next season.
The 6’5″, 277 lbs defensive tackle fills an incredibly important need on the interior of the line in 2013. Since Derek Wolfe and John Hughes took their massive bodies and wealth of experience to the NFL, UC’s defensive line hasn’t been the same. An undersized and young position group got little pressure on opposing quarterbacks while heavy running teams found massive holes upfront for ball carriers to run through. The good news is that this unit returns just about every major contributor next season and will only be better with the learnings from 2012. Adding Aiken will only bolster the interior of the defensive line much like John Williams did last year.