Marquiss Spencer’s dream of making it in the National Football League is continuing in New York City.
The New York Jets signed the former Greenwood High and Mississippi State Bulldog to their practice squad last week.
Spencer (6-4, 300) was drafted by the Denver Broncos with the 253rd pick of the seventh round in the 2021 draft.
Spencer, who has played defensive tackle and end, appeared in one game last season for Denver, assisting on one tackle.
In January, he signed a reserve/future contract with the Broncos before the team waived him in August.
Spencer left practice on Aug. 16 with a knee injury and while he was able to walk to the sideline, he later was taken on a cart to the locker room. He spent most of his rookie season on Denver’s practice squad.
In four seasons at Mississippi State, he had 100 total tackles, 23 tackles for loss, seven quarterback sacks and an interception.
He played in 12 games at linebacker as a true freshman in Starkville (17 tackles, three for loss, with one sack) and then in 13 games as a reserve defensive end the following year (19 tackles, 41/2 for loss, with one sack). After four games (three tackles) in 2018, Spencer wound up redshirting due to an upper-body injury. He came back strong as a junior, starting all 13 games and racking up 37 tackles, 61/2 for loss, with two sacks and two forced fumbles. Spencer started nine games in 2020 (30 tackles, eight for loss, with three sacks, one interception) before suffering a season-ending injury against Auburn on Dec. 12.
Coming out of Greenwood, he was a top-300 overall recruit nationally in 2016, racking up 21 sacks as a senior at Greenwood High School.
He was named the Commonwealth’s Player of the Year following his senior season at GHS.
-Contact Calvin Stevens at 662-581-7234 or cstevens@gwcommonwealth.com.
