Marques Tampa Jr. was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania and moved to Jonesboro, Georgia at age three.

[1] Tampa would decide to commit to play college football at Iowa State over schools such as Georgia, Maryland, Rutgers, Toledo, UCF, and South Florida.

[5] In week nine of the 2022 season, Tampa had a career day, tallying seven tackles with one going for a loss, and four pass deflections, but the Cyclones fell to Oklahoma.

[7][8] Tampa finished his breakout 2022 season with 40 tackles including five going for a loss, nine pass defelections, an interception, and a forced fumble.

[12][13] Tampa was also named to the Jim Thorpe Award watch list, which is awarded to the best defensive back in the country, and to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list, which is given to nation's best defensive player.