Sophomore DeMarco Murray was on the field for the Red-White spring game after all. Unfortunately for Oklahoma fans, he was holding a first-down marker as a member of the chain gang.
Murray and fellow tailback Chris Brown missed spring football while recovering from knee injuries, turning a competition to replace 1,000-yard rusher Allen Patrick into a two-man show starring blue-chip early enrollee Justin Johnson and sophomore Mossis Madu.
Johnson (6-1, 196) carried 204 times for 2,164 yards and 25 touchdowns last season at Gilmer High in Texas and was rated the No. 2 running back in the nation by Scout.com. He produced a few highlights this spring, rushing for 57 yards in the first scrimmage, but offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson wants him to be less tentative.
"He doesn't trust it, he's still looking," Wilson told The Oklahoman. "He needs to learn to just level and run. But he's a very good back and he's doing well. For a young guy, he's really doing well."
Madu (5-11, 193) averaged 5.8 yards per carry for the Sooners last season, but his 40 attempts came mostly during mop-up time. He also had his moments this spring. He had 31 rushing yards and a game-high 74 yards on six receptions in the spring game.
"He's a guy not everybody has really had a chance to see a lot of. I made this comment to a lot of people: Mossis Madu can play for a lot of people," running backs coach Cale Gundy said. "I'm fortunate to be a coach at a position that has a lot of depth."
Gundy's fingers are crossed for a full recovery by Murray, who hurt his kneecap on an onside kick in the closing seconds of the Nov. 17 loss at Texas Tech. He underwent surgery and missed the rest of the season. Murray averaged 6.0 yards per carry, finishing the season with 764 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also scored two TDs on kick returns and averaged 29.3 yards per return.
Murray told the Tulsa World in mid-April that he hopes to return in August bigger and stronger at 215 pounds, up from 205 last season.
"I've got another couple months before I can really start sprinting hard," he said. "But it's getting a lot better. I don't feel any pain in my knee, so rehab's going great for me so far."
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Well i see mike stoops is on the hot seat if he doean't pick it up this season he is gone. why don't some of you no-it-alls that said i was wrong about mike stoops, and you all said he would make it as a head coach and he isn't. Go ask brother bob to get him to come back to OU. Hey when it comes to head coaching some got it and some don't, personally i think his only problem was he went to th
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What a hoot. I just heard a live interview "from the road" of an Oklahoma player that just called it quits. Funny thing is, he originally committed to play for Michigan State.
The highly regarded player is none other than 3rd string quartrback Keith Nichol. He committed to play for John L. Smith. When he got the boot and new coach Dantonio came aboard,
When I look at OU's upcoming schedule for 08 , well I guess the more I read about 2 of the teams we face in the OOC portion of it I get the feeling Stoops better get some motivating going on in the locker room . Washington is going to be a tough game , Cincy really scares me , they were ranked ( I believe ) 20th at the end of last season .
I apologize for having such a tough time getting over the most embarassing sooner loss in years. We were huge favorites heading into the game and we got thumped by 20 against a team breaking in an interim head coach and a team that was coming off its most ehart breaking loss possibly in school history to a 4-7 rival at home with the national title on the line. Not to mention the fac
