Texas Tech football: 3 Sooner defenders that Red Raider fans should know

LB Kenneth Murray

For the Sooners’ defense, it all begins with the preseason Big 12 defensive player of the year, LB Kenneth Murray.   Last year, he posted 155 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and finished the year 13th nationally with 11.1 tackles per game.

Nine of his 13 games last season saw him rack up at least 10 tackles.  That included 15 against Alabama in the national semifinal and a season-high 28 against Army.

Thus far in 2019, he’s not off to quite as prolific of a start with a mere 22 tackles and 0.5 sacks.  He began the season with a big 13-tackle performance against Houston but has racked up just nine combined stops in the last two games.

Where Murray could be an asset for the Sooners this week is against the Tech running game.  If, as we expect, OC David Yost relies more heavily on his running backs to carry the load between the tackles with Bowman out, Murray will be a busy man.

The good news for Tech is that a similar LB in both production and style of play did not dominate in Tucson.  Arizona’s Colin Schooler was productive with eight tackles but he was not as much of a factor as he’s proven capable of being.

Another factor working in the Red Raiders’ favor is that OU’s new defensive scheme is very similar to what Arizona ran.  Though the Wildcats gave Tech fits, especially the o-line, this should be a look that the Red Raiders are familiar with.  Hopefully, two weeks of work against that scheme in practice will yield better results, especially considering that Arizona unexpectedly switched to the 3-man line prior to the Tech game after playing a 4-man front in the first two games.

Keep an eye on what type of motion the Red raiders throw at Murray both before and after the snap.  Forcing him to identify numerous players pre-snap and contend with tons of traffic in his area in the way of crossing routes may be enough to keep him off balance and occupied just long enough to make him a step late when pursuing the ball.