Kenneth Murray: Bobby Boucher, The Waterboy
If there was one player in this linebacker group that I would just assign the task of “destroying worlds” on a given play, Kenneth Murray would likely be that player.
After all, if you work through his game film you see that when Oklahoma let him just attack, that is when he was at his best. When he can diagnose a play in front of him and just explode downhill, he has the ability and power to stop plays before they even start. Pro Football Focus described him as a “hunter” in the middle of the field, and that is exactly what he does on plays like this:
When Murray is able to attack a pocket as a pass-rusher, or diagnose a screen and come downhill to destroy it, he is at his best.
Now, from all the research I have done into Murray’s background, there is little evidence of an interest in the aquatic arts. But there is a parallel between how he plays the position, and the unknown water consultant who turned the South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs into a feared defensive unit. Both Murray and Boucher have the ability to single-handedly stop an offense in its tracks.
For Murray to have similar success in the NFL, however, he might need a coach with the vision of Coach Klein to pull it out of him.