Murray ready to add depth to OU's O-line

Chris Murray had a way of calming down his high school coach before big games.

“He'd always tap me on the shoulder,” Bruce Rollinson remembered, “and say, `Get some sleep, Coach. We'll get this s—- taken care of.'”

That's all Rollinson needed to hear from his physical guard.

“You just knew by looking in his facemask,” Rollinson said, “that he was dialed up and excited to go.”

After signing with UCLA and starting all 24 games in his two seasons with the Bruins, Murray is eligible to make his OU debut at 11 a.m. Saturday

against TCU. Murray's transfer waiver was approved last week, just in time for the junior offensive lineman to play in the city where he was raised.

Murray was in kindergarten when he and his two brothers moved with their mom from Southern California to Fort Worth, Texas. Judy Murray was in seminary at Travis Avenue Baptist Church — two miles east of TCU.

“Everyone knows him,” Judy Murray said of their time in Fort Worth. “All his friends are there.”

Chris Murray played youth football in Fort Worth until he moved back to California when he was 13.

Murray attended Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana — perennially one of the top football programs in the country. Rollinson, an old-school coach with a gruff voice and

thick mustache, has lost count of all the Division-I players Mater Dei has produced in his 30 years.

“It's a high number,” Rollinson said. “It's a very high number.”

At least 50 in the last decade alone, including Murray and Sooner defensive back Jeremiah Criddell.

Rollinson claims there's only been one Mater Dei starting quarterback in the last 30 years, beginning with Oregon's Danny O'Neil, who wasn't offered a Division-I scholarship. Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley, Colt Brennan and JT Daniels, who played with Murray, were just a few of his former quarterbacks Rollinson rattled off.

But Mater Dei is also known for protecting those quarterbacks.

The offensive line Murray was part of was one of the best Rollinson can remember.

All five starters are now high-level college players. Murray and Mason Kolinchak ( Army) played the two guard spots. Tommy Brown (Alabama) and Myles Murao (Washington) played tackle. Kek an iokoaHol om aliaGonzalez( Boise State) started at center.

In 2017, Murray's senior season, Mater Dei never trailed en route to a state title.

“You can be good, and then there's the kids like this line that pretty much wanna destroy you,” Rollinson said. “(Chris) had that innate ability to just dominate the guy on top of him. The bigger the game, the bigger Chris played.”

Chris Ward, who played at UCLA and coached Mater Dei's offensive line, said Murray was “always looking for work.”

“If his assignment doesn't come, he's gonna go hit somebody within the scheme of the play,” Ward said. “He always brought that to the table. And most times I had to bring him down, like hey, let's be careful, we're winning by 50 points. Let's kind of ease up a little bit.”

Murray, a former four-star prospect, is expected to add depth to OU's veteran offensive line. It was a bold decision for Murray to transfer in April from UCLA, where he was an entrenched starter from Day 1. Murray was the first Bruin true freshman to start a season opener at center since at least 1982 — as far back as UCLA's records go.

“I think it shocked a lot of people because he was a starter, he played all 24 games, he was highly recruited,” Judy Murray said. “But he wanted to be coached by the best.”

The Murrays connected with offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, and OU became a natural fit.

Rollinson knows what to expect if Murray gets his chance Saturday.

“We knew when Chris came to play, look out,” Rollinson said, “because there's gonna be some damage done.”