The Forging Of Kenneth 'K-9' Murray Jr.

The Forging Of Kenneth 'K-9' Murray Jr.

Oklahoma sophomore middle linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. knew this would happen. He wrote all of this down.

Jul 17, 2018 by RJ Young
OU's Kenneth Murray At Big 12 Media Days

FRISCO, Texas — Oklahoma sophomore middle linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. knew this would happen. He wrote all of this down.

He wrote it all down on a sheet of paper on Aug. 30, 2016, while he was still at Elkin High in Missouri City, Texas.

He has a copy of that sheet of paper in his room in Norman, on his locker at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, and he has his Year 2 goals written on the front of his phone.

“So every time I look at my phone that’s what I’m seeing,” Murray said.

That was Murray’s senior year of high school. He was just a three-star outside linebacker then. He was not supposed to play much, if at all, in 2017.

But injuries happened. Positions changed. At the beginning of the 2017 season, Murray was playing a position he never had. A position pivotal to every football team.

He was the middle linebacker now—the Mike. Still a teenager, he was making history. But he knew this would happen. He wrote all of this down.

Murray wanted to be a freshman All-American. He wanted to be a team captain. He wanted to be one of the men coaches depended on to speak on the program’s behalf in settings like Big 12 Media Days.

But there are others he hasn’t reached yet. He wants to be a consensus first team All-American. He wants to win the Butkus Award. He wants his team to have one of the best defenses in the country.

There are about 20 items on the list, and each one is meant to be ticked off.

“Every time I achieved something on that list,” Murray said, “I went back and I updated it.”

Murray did not have the smoothest transition from outside linebacker to being the first true freshman to start at middle linebacker for OU since 1975. Every change has been hard. Every change has been worth it. Still, the toughest position he’s ever had to learn is the one he’s playing right now.

“I feel like I’m a natural born leader,” he said. “I feel like it’s something I was built to do. I’m ready for it.”

That is the man nicknamed K-9 in three punchy sentences. He’s K-9 because he wears No. 9 on his chest, though it wasn’t his first choice.

“I didn’t choose nine,” he said. “Nine chose me.”

He wore No. 2 in high school. But it wasn’t available. So he said he’d settle for a single digit.

“I’m not trying to get no big number,” he said. “I’m not no big 48-type linebacker—no 45. I just wanted a small number.”

So the equipment manager gave him No. 9. Then, not long afterward, one of his teammates found out what Murray’s jersey number was and dubbed him “K-9.”

When he saw the field, his aggressive, dawg-like nature came to the forefront, and he’s been K-9 while learning what it means to lead by watching No. 6.

He had the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft Baker Mayfield to demonstrate true leadership. And he admits those are big shoes to fill.

“By far the best teammate I’ve ever had in my life—by far.”

Murray realizes he can’t be Mayfield. If he is, he’ll fail his team.

“You have to be yourself. That’s what it is first of all,” Murray said. “Guys are realizing, OK, you lost Baker. So we need to find another Baker. No, we don’t need to find another Baker. We need to be ourselves.”

And he’s doing that. He’s being himself when he brings true freshman linebackers DaShaun White, Brian Asamoah and Nik Bonitto into the film room with him. He’s teaching those guys how to learn from the best offense in the country.

He remains amazed at how OU coach Lincoln Riley and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh use the defense’s scheme against it. He gave an example of how the offense tricks the defense into tying itself up with its own principles.

“You know this is my rule,” he said, “and I have to go this way, but you’re gonna bring me back this way with another rule that’s my rule. So I’m stuck in the middle.”

Now, coming off a close loss to Georgia in the Rose Bowl, Murray is learning and teaching as much as he can to get OU back to the College Football Playoff and earn a chance to win a national title.

“We were there last year,” he said. “We were one game away last year. If we continue to do the work, if we focus in and really lock in and really do what we need to do, we can win all 15 games.”

He knows they can. He wrote it all down.