Riley has no doubt Murray could do NFL
Kyler Murray Riley Tagovailoa Lincoln Tua
Sophomore Robert Barnes is atop the depth chart at free safety for the first time this season.
Barnes made his first start of the season last weekend at TCU — one of three new starters on Oklahoma’s defense along with defensive end Ronnie Perkins and cornerback
Tre Brown. “I was eager,” Barnes said. “It was an opportunity I had been praying for. To be out there and to compete with my brothers, especially everything that we had gone through as a group in the weeks prior, just a blessing to be out there.”
With Barnes’ emergence at free safety, senior Kahlil Haughton will move from free safety to strong safety. Redshirt freshman Justin
Joe Mussatto
had been listed as OU’s starting strong safety, but he’s moved to a second-team corner role on the latest depth chart.
Creed Humphrey had an ominous start to his college career. The redshirt freshman center from Shawnee was flagged for a snap infraction on his first play.
“Moved it a little bit right before the clap,” Humphrey said, “but it settled me down for sure.”
After a preseason battle with senior Jonathan Alvarez, Humphrey claimed the full-time starting center job after Oklahoma’s third game at Iowa State. “It’s been a dream of mine to start at OU my whole life,” he said.
Humphrey is the lone freshman on Oklahoma’s offensive line. He’s two years younger than each of the four starters who flank him to the left and right.
“But they treat me just like I’ve been on that line for three years just like they have,” Humphrey said. “My first game they came and told me, ‘You lead, we follow.’”
Humphrey was a fourstar prospect in OU’s 2017 signing class. He was the fifth-ranked player in the state and a top-300 national prospect, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Humphrey, 6-foot-5 and 325 pounds, is already a mainstay in the middle of OU’s offensive line.
“He’ll be a really good player,” offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh said, “and he’s getting better.”