Marques Jones remembers standing on the sidelines for the season opener at McLane Stadium two years ago, "wearing a jersey that was mine," and thinking that it doesn't get any better than this.

The walk-on receiver from McKinney, Texas, couldn't believe he was standing there on the same field with Seth Russell, Corey Coleman and KD Cannon. "I get to come out here and practice with all these guys, this is like the coolest thing ever."

Until Saturday.

Back at receiver after a try at cornerback, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Jones not only played in the Bears' 38-7 loss to Texas, he made his first career start and caught two passes for 23 yards.

"When you're on the practice field, you're like, 'Yeah, OK, I'm starting,''' said Jones, who has played on every special team this season after seeing zero game action his first two years. "But once you get out there in the stadium, it kind of hit me like, 'Wow! This is awesome!'''

Asked to switch over to the defensive side during the August preseason camp, Jones was approached by first-year head coach Matt Rhule after the Bears lost freshman receiver R.J. Sneed in the 38-36 loss to West Virginia.

"R.J. got hurt, broke his tibia, and Pooh (Stricklin) had been struggling with his foot," Jones said. "They really needed a 'Y' for our Cheetah, our four-receiver package. So, Coach Rhule talked to me the Sunday after the West Virginia game and was like, 'Hey, we're moving you back.' So, I was like, 'I'm up for that.'''

A receiver and second-team all-district safety his senior year at McKinney High School, Jones came to Baylor as a receiver. So, the transition to defense was a tough one.

"Corner is a lot of man-to-man, so it's a lot different than receiver. It's a lot more reaction," he said. "At receiver, you have the plan, you're just running your routes. But at corner, you have to react to whatever the receiver is doing, so it was a pretty hard transition, honestly."

So, when Rhule asked him about moving back to offense, he didn't hesitate. "I would do anything for this team. But, I'm not going to lie my heart was always with the offense."

Jones' first career catch was a 14-yard pass from freshman quarterback Charlie Brewer late in the first half. Then, late in the game, he converted on a fourth-and-8 with a nine-yard catch.

"The thing about Marques is he's a 4.3 kid (in the 40-yard dash), so he can really run. And he's a 4.0 student, so he's really bright," Rhule said. "He certainly didn't look out of place. We just have to continue to train him and bring him along. It's hard to find that kind of speed. When we lost (Chris) Platt, we lost a lot of that speed, and Marques gives us some of that."

Throughout the first quarter, Jones said he was standing in his stance and could feel his legs shaking.

"I started thinking, 'Oh my gosh, if they throw me the ball, am I going to be too nervous to catch it?''' he said. "But then when you get out there, everything's moving so fast, and you don't really have time to be nervous. Which is good, I guess. I just caught the ball and ran."

Majoring in electrical and computer engineering, Jones has a 3.91 GPA. He got his only B in Calculus III.

"I knew I didn't study enough for that class," he said. "I thought I could breeze through it, but it did not let me breeze."

Jones, who also applied at Harvard, said it can be difficult to balance school with football practice, meetings and studying, but "I just find a way, honestly."

"Even after practice and meetings, there's still a lot of free time to do homework and studies. So, I'm not too stressed," he said. "I know a couple weeks ago I had like three tests that week, and that was probably the most stressed I've been. I didn't get much sleep that week."

Despite the 0-8 start, Jones said the team will continue to "keep pushing, keep grinding, because we know that eventually it's going to all click for all of us, and then we'll just never stop winning at that point."

Baylor faces Kansas (1-7, 0-5) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kan., in a game that will be televised by FSN.