Rivalry: Round 2
OU’s Kenneth Murray will be trying to slow down the Longhorns, a team he nearly was a part of.
If things would’ve been just a bit different, linebacker Kenneth Murray might be on the other side of this week’s Big 12 Championship Game.
There was a time in 2016 when Murray thought he was going to Texas.
Instead, he’ll be on the other side when the Sooners and Longhorns meet at AT&T Stadium (11 a.m., ABC) potentially with a College Football Playoff berth on the line for the Sooners.
Murray has racked up 133 tackles so far this season, the most for an Oklahoma player since Travis Lewis had 144 in 2008.
He figures to play a big role against the Longhorns after registering 10 tackles in the first meeting.
“My pops wanted me to go to Texas,” Murray said. “He really liked
Coach (Charlie) Strong. He was real close with Coach Strong, had a good relationship with him.”
Texas got in on recruiting Murray earlier than the Sooners did.
But Texas’ 5-7 finish in 2015 put Strong on shaky ground in Austin, and in the summer of 2016, the Sooners went after Murray hard, even if they didn’t necessarily have to.
“When OU offered me, I had already been thinking about OU,” Murray said. “So that was the end of the story.”
Murray’s father, Kenneth Murray Sr., loved Strong but was largely unaware just how much his son had thought about playing for the Sooners.
That positive feeling was thanks to a series of ESPNU All-Access segments that the younger Murray found on YouTube.
“Kenny Stills, Bob Stoops, everybody,” Murray said of the video. “It was kind of surreal for me seeing all those people as a kid and then as I got here being recruited by the same people — seeing Coach Schmitty (former OU strength coach Jerry Schmitt) on the All-Access getting after dudes and then have an opportunity to get after me.”
And Murray’s dad came around quickly.
“Part of my job as a father is to run interference and keep things fair,” Kenneth Murray Sr. said recently, recalling the recruiting process. “It’s his decision and his decision and he will make that decision solely on what his desire is, but it’s my job to run interference.”
Murray Sr. said he was trying to get his son to go to Texas, but after Bob Stoops and Mike Stoops, who are both from Youngstown, Ohio — like Murray Sr. — made a solid impression, that was out the window.
Murray Jr. quickly committed to the Sooners after a summer unofficial visit to Norman. Now, Murray is looking to win his second consecutive Big 12 title, this time against one of the programs he’d strongly considered.