Demarco Murray began his career at The University of Oklahoma as a super-hyped bolt of energy and speed and did little during his freshman season to dispel that hype. By the time Demarco Murray finishes his eligibility in a few months he will hold several major records at OU including total Touchdowns and All purpose yards while most likely finishing in the top 5 in rushing yards and the top 2 in rushing touchdowns, if not #1. So why is it that we stand nearly halfway through Demarco's Senior season and I still have no idea where to place him amongst the All Time Greats at OU? It could be that despite all of the numbers that Demarco will pile up, he will never have a season that places him in the top 5 in rushing yardage for a season although he has a good shot to break the OU single season Touchdown record of 23.
It could be because of the age old question, "what could have been?" What would have happened if Demarco were healthy when OU lost by 10 to Florida in the 2008 National Championship? What if Demarco hadn't missed 4 full games and parts of several others in his career? What if he hadn't split carries with Chris Brown for much of his career? What if we hadn't seen Demarco virtually change the type of running back that he was at least 3 times? It is often intriguing to wonder 'what if' but in Demarco's case I think the better place to take the conversation is 'what now'? Demarco has atleast 7 games left in his OU career and possibly 8 if OU makes the Big 12 Title Game. What can Demarco do now to end his career that will help us to properly place him amongst the greats at OU?
It's now doubt that if you are judging Murray's career based off of the expectations he created his freshman year when he had the legendary run against Texas while averaging 6 yards per carry and scoring 17 total touchdowns throughout the season that you might say his career wasn't what it could have been. He never again averaged over 5.6 yards per carry and has only one 1000 yard season to his name, although it seems likely he will break that mark again this year barring injury.
So what if we talk about the way that Murray has continually re-invented his self, it's this part of his career that impresses me the most. Going from a speed demon his freshman year, a guy who could put any move on any player and win, a guy who could get the corner on any guy in the country and win, as well as a guy who could still occasionally run over someone. It appeared that once Murray was hurt in the 11th game of his freshman season he came back and decided that his top end speed may be gone so he overcompensated and bulked up the following two years.
Undoubtedly irritated by missing parts of all 3 of his seasons due to injuries, Murray made yet another change going into his Senior season. Dropping around 10lbs and doing more flexibility type of exercises, it appears that Murray has finally found the type of runner that he needs to be. While Murray still lacks some of that speed that he used to have and a few of the moves, we have seen glimpses of Greatness throughout his Senior season mixed very good play throughout.
As we near the end of what has no doubt been a great career from Demarco I think we should focus more on what he is than what he could have been. He may not be the best running back to ever play at OU but then again, there are so many Great ones at OU that you could probably never find a consensus #1 anyway. In my mind we are watching the twilight of one of the Greatest careers at OU ever, any position. What he now lacks in flash he makes up for in substance, reliability, in his high level of value. Murray means so much to this 2010 team that it really can't be measured in numbers. While the numbers may say he is one of the best and the eye test may say he is just pretty good and sometimes really good, there is no doubt in my mind that Murray will end his career at OU as one of the best running backs in school history and one of the most valuable players in OU history ever.
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