Kenneth Murray may prove to the NFL that Oklahoma and the rest of the Big 12 can play defense and play defense at a high level.
The former Sooner linebacker is a throwback to the glory days of Big 12 and even Big 8 defense at Oklahoma. Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch have labeled Murray as a model for the players they want to bring into the program, and Murray could be part of a huge reason why defensive talent starts to find its way to the Sooners.
“I think it means a lot,” Riley said. “I think it’s proof. It’s proof of concept, proof of what they’re trying to do, and proof that we’re heading in the direction that we all felt like we needed to head and could head.”
Murray has been the leader of the Oklahoma defense for the past two seasons and arguably his freshman season three years ago. Playing the middle linebacker position, Murray was the quarterback of Oklahoma’s defense and progressed himself both mentally and physically to grow and mature into a first-round pick.
Riley expressed that had Murray been eligible in last year’s draft, he would have not been anywhere near the first round.
“It’s so hard to do,” he said about Murray’s leap. “And to able to make that leap, again, with a new system, new coaches, new mentality, all that defensively—I just think it speaks volumes for every other prospect out there. If they can do that with a Kenneth Murray or Neville Gallimore or even the adjustment Parnell Motley made, I mean, a year ago from now to think that Parnell Motley might be drafted? There’s no way. Now the guy’s probably underrated. He had a phenomenal year. I just think those are some great examples of the difference these guys have made and where we’re headed defensively.”
Murray’s production was not what was bogging him down, but how he fits into schemes. Under Alex Grinch, Murray blossomed into an every-down linebacker that can drop into coverage, fill run-gaps, and go get the quarterback.
Riley compared the defensive renaissance to what he encountered offensively when he first arrived in Norman.
“It’s a lot like when we got here offensively and I remember being very frustrated when I first got here that we weren’t being able to recruit some of the best offensive players in the country,” Riley said. “We were getting good players but not the elite of the elite. I remember getting a call from Kyler Murray right after the Big 12 championship game saying he wanted to come here our first year, or what ended being the Big 12 championship game, the Bedlam game in Stillwater. That was the start of it. A guy who said, ‘Well if they can do that with Baker and Sterling and some of those guys that did well for us in that one season, what can they do with me in a number of years?’ I think we were able to create that situation, and I think we have defensively. Kenneth’s success is a great testament to that.”
Given time, maybe Oklahoma’s defense turns a corner thanks to no part to Murray on the opposite side of the ball that played for the Sooners.
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