Marburger Cements RGV Legacy Leading Football in Inaugural Season

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – It took a leap of faith for Eddie Lee Marburger to choose to spend his last season of college football playing for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros.

Fortunately, faith has long been one of Marburger's biggest strengths.

In December 2024, Marburger had a decision to make – remain at UTSA, where he spent his first four seasons and appeared in 18 games, or test the transfer portal waters. From the outside looking in, there was a path that seemed paved exclusively for the redshirt senior: return home to the Rio Grande Valley and be the first quarterback in UTRGV history.

But there were a lot of unknowns surrounding the inaugural season. Marburger's parents – Rachelle and Rene Torres, his mom and stepdad, and father, Lance Marburger – admitted having concerns as their son considered UTRGV. Questions like "Are they going to win a game? Are you going to be happy? Is he going to survive the season playing with people who are just starting out?" arose.

On Jan. 7, 2025, after many conversations and prayers, Marburger officially signed with the Vaqueros. He trusted the decision he felt called to make, and one year and a whole lot of history later, it's clear he was put exactly where he needed to be.

"I don't think the Lord could've given us a better ending to his college career," Lance Marburger said. "For him to come here, where he grew up, where I grew up, where our whole family is, it was kind of a storybook ending."

***

As fans watched Marburger conduct the UTRGV offense with poise and confidence throughout the 2025 season, resulting in the Southland Conference's most explosive offense which averaged 39.6 points per game and 435.2 yards per game, they may never have guessed the SLC Newcomer of the Year and DCTF Texas Non-FBS Offensive Player of the Year was once scared to play football.

"There was one time, I was like 9 years old, my mom had to literally drag me out of the house and into the car because I was crying and I didn't want to play," Marburger reminisced. "I used to struggle really bad with anxiety. It was like the worst fear in the world before a game. And then, after the first play, it's like, 'Okay, that wasn't so bad.' And before you know it, you're just playing."

Rachelle Torres remembers helping Marburger through panic attacks and the worst-case-scenario thoughts that gave him hesitation about other sports, too. She didn't want her son to let "unreasonable fears" get the best of him, so she taught him how to let his faith guide him.

"Sometimes God is not going to remove the struggle," she told him. "He's going to make you go through the struggle, but he's going to go through it with you. And I'm here with you, too. I'm going to be with you every step of the way. You can do it."

It didn't change overnight, but after years of saying, "We can do it. We will do it. We're going to get through it," Marburger truly fell in love with football. He developed into a 3-star prospect at Sharyland Pioneer High School and became the Rio Grande Valley's all-time passing touchdowns leader as a senior with his 88th career passing touchdown.

That development took a lot of work. The summer before Marburger went to high school, Torres put a plan in motion: she asked Marburger if he wanted an athletic scholarship and what sport he wanted to play at the next level. To her slight surprise, his immediate answer was football.

The next few years, they poured into his football training as a family. Lance Marburger moved back home to Edinburg and developed a routine with Eddie Lee to focus on arm strength and accuracy. It was partially built from frustration – Marburger went to camp after camp and Lance felt there wasn't a lot of real learning going on. So, one day he bought 80 footballs and they went to work.

"You have to break down a muscle to improve it, and the only way to break down the throwing muscles was to do rep after rep after rep and not have a break between throws," Lance explained. "The first 30 throws are pretty easy, but ball 40-60, he's getting tired, and when you keep pushing the muscles that are breaking down, that's where you improve. We would constantly have these sessions where he would throw between 500-600 balls. We saw such a big improvement after the first six-week period that we realized we were on to something, so we kept doing it."

When Marburger earned his scholarship to UTSA, Lance followed him to San Antonio. They continued working out together and developed a pattern they followed all four years. The results of that work are clear when fans watch him sling the football at games, but even more obvious to those who watch every rep.

"He can probably throw the ball better than anybody I've ever seen throw the ball," said Frank Harris, the record-setting UTSA (2017-23) quarterback and one of Marburger's mentors. "He throws a spiral every pass. I will stand firm on that to this day: when it comes to throwing a spiral, I have never seen anybody do it more than Eddie Lee. It's unbelievable. He is so accurate."

After the transfer to UTRGV, the Marburger men got a place together in Edinburg. Lance was a fixture at the practice fields throughout the fall, coaching Marburger through quick sprints and other speed-focused drills after UTRGV's practices. He massively influenced Marburger's development, but for Lance, the real significance was how football impacted their father-and-son bond.

"We didn't live in the same house [when Eddie Lee was growing up]," Lance said. "I feel that God gave me a second chance to get close with him [through football]. I've enjoyed living with him. Watching your son succeed, there's nothing greater than that."

***

August 30, 2025 meant a lot to Marburger and his village of supporters – at least 30 of whom were at Robert & Janet Vackar Stadium to watch their quarterback make history as UTRGV played its first-ever game against Sul Ross State.

Just over three minutes into the game, Marburger launched a 50-yard touchdown pass to Xayvion Noland for the first score in program history. The Vaqueros went on to rout the Lobos, 66-0, in front of 12,726 fans. Marburger finished 19-of-20 with 417 passing yards and five touchdowns.

"It was like a full circle moment just with my career and the journey that I've had. To see all my family and friends out there, and the whole Valley, really, all the support and stuff was almost overwhelming, feeling loved like that. I've got to give all the glory to God. He blessed me with this situation and this community and I'm so thankful for it," Marburger said after the game.

That game is one of the standout moments from 2025 for Marburger, his parents, and Bush. Everything was unknown prior to kickoff, his dad said, and seeing the team's success and Marburger's near-perfect day right out of the gate "was probably the biggest high of the whole season."

The first big test came the following week, when UTRGV played at Prairie View A&M on Sept. 6. The Panthers took a 21-20 lead with 13 minutes remaining, but a clutch three-and-out forced by the defense gave the Vaqueros their shot with 5:25 to play. Nathan Denney scored the go-ahead rushing touchdown for the 27-21 lead with 2:21 on the clock. Two key plays secured the game: a forced fumble by Alijah Prosser and a 27-yard, first-down rush from Marburger.

That finish, capped by Marburger's powerful, determined run, shifted expectations.

"He wasn't supposed to keep it, he was supposed to hand it off, but he just pulled it. A true competitor wants the ball in his hands when the game is on the line because he can get it done. That series of plays to win that game was probably the defining moment for him and grew my respect for him as a competitor because that showed his true drive," head coach Travis Bush said.

***

When Marburger stepped on campus in January 2025, many outside of the program automatically dubbed him QB1. UTRGV head coach Travis Bush told Marburger outright that he was the third stringer on Day 1. Yes, Bush anticipated that Marburger would be the starter come August 30 and told him so during the recruitment process. But he had a lot to learn, and the coaching staff wanted to see him put in the work. That's part of the responsibility of being the starting quarterback, Bush said – proving every day to every person in the building that you're the guy for the job.

Marburger impressed not only with how quickly he picked up the systems and learned the playbook, but with the effort he put in to establish good relationships with every person involved with the program.

"The main thing about him was the humility," Bush praised. "He's coming in from an FBS school, competing against a bunch of freshmen with just a practice year under their belt. He could've easily acted like he was the best guy in the room. But he understood he had to prove it. He was really intentional about jelling with the guys and bringing position groups together, getting to know everybody, building the bonds and relationships. He clearly showed he was the guy for the job."

One of the most important relationships fostered in the spring was the one between Marburger and Bush. The head coach and quarterback grew to realize how similar they are – both a bit reserved, extremely detailed and driven, wishing they could stay out of the spotlight, "shut up, go to work, and mind our own business," though everything about who they were at that time in UTRGV history made them the most sought-out people in the RGV.

The pair spent a lot of time together. Bush's family didn't move to the Valley until the end of the school year, so Marburger became one of his main companions. They frequently had dinner together before returning to the facility to review video and go through the playbook, developing comfortability and trust along the way.

"He knew what he needed to do to catch up offensively, and I wanted to help him as much as I could because he deserved it," Bush said.

Marburger was committed to spending time with his teammates in and out of the facility, too. Many Vaqueros shared stories of Marburger taking them out for a meal, hosting them at his parents' house in Mission, even walking right into a teammate's apartment to hang out without advance notice. He did regular bible study with several people on the team, creating a community and connections that go beyond football.

Marburger consistently declared the UTRGV locker room bond was the best he ever experienced. The chemistry developed quickly, and the mentality for each player was team over individual. The veteran knew instantly that would be beneficial as competition began.

"I think God has a special hand over this team. I think he has something big planned for us," Marburger said after the 4-0 start. "There's a true brotherly love and it makes it a lot of fun to come to practice every day and to be here at the facility together. I think that's what's going to make us hard to beat, just how much we love one another."

***

The ups and downs of a season started kicking in when UTRGV hit Week 5.

UTRGV dropped the Southland Conference opener Sept. 27 at (RV) Southeastern, 45-31. The Vaqueros bounced back with a 27-7 win over Houston Christian University at home on Oct. 4 – a game in which Marburger was the team's leading rusher with career highs of 95 yards and two touchdowns to go with 131 yards and one score in the air. He also threw two interceptions in the first half.

"He didn't have a great first half, so at halftime, I didn't even talk to him, but he's sitting right next to [backup quarterback Aidan Jakobsohn], and I said, 'Aidan, you be ready because if we don't score on the next series, you're going in.' And I walked away. I knew he's a competitor and it would piss him off, and he came out on that first drive and you could tell he was not going to let anyone come in. We went straight down the field and scored," Bush recalled with a grin. Marburger ran for 31 yards on that drive and scored the rushing touchdown.

"I did actually get really mad at halftime. And I think it helped, just going back out and playing with aggression," Marburger said.

Outside of the media room after Bush's postgame press conference, the two shared a moment that embodied the relationship they developed – Bush tapped Marburger on the chest and joked that he should get on him at halftime more often, and the quarterback simply replied, "Yeah, that actually helped."

The mutual respect built up through honest and consistent communication allows for coaching moments like that. Bush never hesitated to get in Marburger's face during games, and Marburger understood the larger purpose and never took those instances personally.

"From Day 1, we tell them we're going to coach them hard, coach them for perfection. It can't be where we yell at other people but we don't yell at the quarterback. The team needs to see me coach him as hard as I coach anybody else," Bush explained. "It's like brothers. We'd fight one minute and I'd walk away and come right back like, 'Alright, what are we going to do next?'"

Games 7 and 8 were complete opposites for the quarterback.

On Oct. 18, UTRGV had #18 Lamar on the ropes on the road. Trailing 23-21, the Vaqueros got the ball back with 1:03 on the clock and a chance to get a ranked win if they could just get into field goal territory. But Lamar secured the victory with an interception.

"That one still haunts me," Marburger said four weeks after that game was played. "My preparation wasn't great that game. Everyone did their job except me, and I felt like I let the team down. A game like that gives you a different type of focus for the next game because you never want to have that feeling again, so you do everything in your power to make sure it doesn't."

Bush and Marburger had a hard conversation after Lamar. Bush gave Jakobsohn more first-team reps the following week of practice, letting Marburger know he was preparing just in case that type of game happened again.

Marburger responded appropriately to the challenge and had a great week of practice before leading UTRGV to a one-sided 56-28 win over the then-reigning SLC Champion UIW. Marburger threw career highs of 440 yards and six touchdowns and ran for an additional score.

"That might've been one of the best games he's ever played," Bush said.

***

It didn't take long for Marburger to become the face of the program. He didn't want the attention, but it naturally comes with the territory. And when you're a local legend leading a historic season, the attention doubles.

"Quarterback, it's not a position you play, it's who you are," Bush said. "It's no different than being the head coach. People are counting on you. You're the direction. You're the motivation. You're their confidence in everything you say and do, how you act and how you work. All eyes are on you all the time, on and off the field. And if you don't like all the stuff that comes with it, then you don't need to play the position. It's not easy, and it doesn't get easier – you just get tougher."

The QB1 and hometown hero combination led to a flood of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) opportunities. Torres added agent to her mom title and took the lead handling Marburger's NIL activities. Marburger sent the requests he got from businesses and organizations to his mom, and she made the calls to get things scheduled and negotiated pricing.

"It's overwhelming how many people reached out to us to partner with him. It's heartwarming and humbling at the same time," Torres said.

It wasn't easy to balance everything. After all, though this was Marburger's fifth year of college football, it was his first time going through a season as the starting quarterback. The preparation required, the responsibilities placed on their shoulders, the expectation to lead creates a unique challenge for the young men thrust into that role. He leaned on lessons learned from four influential quarterbacks from his days at UTSA – Frank Harris, Josh Adkins, Lowell Narcisse, and Jordan Weeks – to help him navigate the new normal.

Harris said his and Marburger's stories are similar – both had to overcome disappointments in the early years of their collegiate careers before shining as the guy in the regions that raised them. Being humbled by the setbacks gives you a new perspective and makes you cherish the game more, Harris said, and Marburger's shift in maturity echoed that belief.

"I'm just so grateful for the little things. I think that's what I realized a lot this year – there were so many things I took for granted when I was at UTSA, and now I wish I hadn't," Marburger said. "I'm really thankful for a lot of things that happened to me, and I just… I don't know. It's my last [season], and I kind of get sad thinking about it, but it's been so much fun. God has blessed me so much. I feel like I'm the most blessed person in the world sometimes."

Another lesson Harris taught Marburger by example was that the best leaders strive to be the best people more than the best at their position. He was proud to see Marburger answering that challenge when he came down to visit and watch the game against UIW.

"One day, you're never going to play football again, and you're going to be remembered for who you are as a person and not who you were as a player," Harris said. "If you're a great football player and a great person, you're going to be remembered. But if you're a great football player and a terrible person, once you get done playing, nobody's really going to care about you. It was really cool when I went down there to see him engaging with his teammates and really being a good person to everybody."

***

The Vaqueros closed the season on a three-game winning streak, ending the incredible inaugural season 9-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play to finish tied for third in the Southland. Marburger was a Walter Payton Award finalist and earned All-Conference First Team honors. He totaled 3,088 yards of offense with 2,780 passing yards and accounted for 35 touchdowns with a 65.2 completion percentage. He led the SLC in nine statistical categories and was top 10 in the FCS in six.

"It's been an unbelievable journey being able to come back and represent not only my family and my friends but the whole entire Valley. To be able to go down in history as the first quarterback, it's an absolute blessing," Marburger said. "I hope people remember this first year as the team that changed Saturday nights in the Valley forever."

Marburger and Bush helped each other grow as they experienced the season together. Marburger called Bush a great culture setter who really cares about the people in his program – the recipe for a special coach to be around. Bush said every guy in the quarterback room mentioned in post-season meetings how much they learned from QB1.

"Watching him study, the way he worked, they all said, 'I didn't realize what it took to be a starting quarterback at this level, and now I saw how much he had to do to be ready to go on Saturdays.' That's really what we needed – somebody to come in here and really teach those guys," Bush said.

A quarterback and leader like Marburger was exactly what UTRGV needed to set the standard for Vaqueros football in Year 1 – and Marburger needed UTRGV just as much.

His struggled mentally near the end of his time at UTSA. "His last two years were really hard. He was down, for sure, and quiet. And it was hard to see him like that," Torres reflected. "Football wasn't a very happy subject and he didn't really want to talk about it. There were no magical words, so I prayed for him a ton. God got him through it, and look now. It's been great to see him excel on the field and get to showcase his abilities. It's been a dream come true."

When Marburger entered the transfer portal in Dec. 2024, Harris called him and said simply, "Please go to UTRGV. You would be dumb not to do it." The Valley welcomed him home with open arms, and he made an effort to pour into the community just as much as the fans poured into him.

He shined on and off the field, becoming someone teammates and strangers alike could look up to. He graduated with a Bachelor of Multidisciplinary Studies (business management, management, marketing) in December and made the Southland All-Academic Team.

The last three months of the year, Marburger couldn't leave the house without being stopped by someone wanting to take a picture with him or talk about the season. He stayed level-headed and true to himself while navigating the highs and lows, firsts and lasts, expectations and responsibilities by keeping the main thing the main thing: faith, family and football before anything else.

***

When it comes to who Eddie Lee Marburger is as a person, Bush summed his complexities up best by saying, "The book is more interesting than the cover. He gives the illusion of a quiet, normal dude, but he's really intriguing."

Unique, goofy, awkward, and funny are a few words those who have shared a locker room with him use to describe the light-hearted side of Marburger. He's also described as humble, charismatic, caring, loyal, thoughtful, calming, and the nicest person with a great heart. He's quick to deflect praise away from himself and onto his teammates and coaches. His quiet confidence draws people in, and his desire to make everyone feel appreciated makes him someone people enjoy being around.

"I think he shows that you can be effective without being rambunctious. Sometimes just being a quiet force is more productive than being a rah-rah guy," Lance said.

His growth from 2021 to now has been significant. He endured and evolved into a young man so many people love and support.

On Jan. 15, Marburger announced he is declaring for the NFL Draft. Regardless of what his football future holds, Marburger is going to be remembered as one of the Valley's greats – not just for his abilities on the field, but for the impact he made on UTRGV football and the entire 956 with his humility, dedication and faith.

"I'm just blessed that God gave me these abilities to play this game, and I feel like I'm doing him a disservice if I'm not going 100%. Don't get me wrong, there are some days I'm mad, I'm hurting, I'm tired. But you just always have to remember, God's done so much for us and the least we can do is give 100% for him," Marburger said. "God's put me through a lot of adversity, and for me to just keep trusting his plan grew my faith more. He brought me way farther than I ever could've imagined I could go."

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