NORMAN — DeMarco Murray took some shots Thursday morning during Oklahoma’s scrimmage at Owen Field. Nothing out of the normal. Just the usual hits a running back takes.
For Murray, it brought a sensation he’d been missing.
“I haven’t been hit much this camp. It felt good to feel a little contact,” he said.
Limiting Murray’s exposure to contact is the wise move because he will be the featured running back in the Sooners’ offense this season and one of the focal points of the offense as a whole.
“If we have a run game, we have a chance to have balance,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “That’s the identity we need to develop in two-a-days.”
The Sooners struggled to run the ball last season. Murray averaged a career-low 4.1 yards per carry and OU averaged just 3.6 as a team. Getting those running backs galloping again is the offensive key to the season.
It all starts with Murray. The senior may be the most versatile back in the program’s history. He rushed for 2,471 yards over the last three seasons and also has 977 receiving yards.
But the one thing he hasn’t been is the true workhorse running back. He’s always shared backfield duties with at least one other running back since 2007.
Murray’s injury issues have made it necessary. He’s missed at least one game due to injury the past two seasons. This spring and summer marked the first time he was able to end a season without needing surgery.
That experience, however, begs for a bigger workload.
“With DeMarco’s maturity and experience, we hope he has the chance to carry the ball a little more and have his hands on it out of the backfield a little more,” OU coach Bob Stoops said.
That’s fine with Murray. This is his last season at OU and he wants to go out with a bang.
“I feel unstoppable when healthy? Yeah, definitely,” he said. “When I’m 100 percent, I feel I’m one of the best players out there. I think I’ve proven that from time to time, when I’ve been healthy. “
Regardless of how Murray handles the strain of this season, other running backs are going to play. The question is how many, and who.
As far as experience goes, OU has senior Mossis Madu ready to go. The former Norman High product has become a full-time running back after spending last season at wide receiver.
Behind Madu is where the intrigue begins.
Two sophomores — Jonathan Miller and Jermie Calhoun — are waiting in the wings. Miller averaged 7.2 yards over 18 carries last season, but had his season cut short due to a knee injury. Calhoun was the Sooners’ third running back last season, but that only amounted to 45 carries.
Both are expecting more this season.
“It’s almost certain that they’re going to feature two and sometimes you’ll see a third back,” Calhoun said. “So I’m ready to take that role and back up DeMarco this year and then go on from that.”
The depth chart is being pushed from the bottom. Freshman running backs Roy Finch and Brennan Clay have drawn raves since preseason practice began.
“They are well developed and it is just how they can handle it mentally,” running backs coach Cale Gundy said. “Once you understand that this is football and it is going to happen a little fast, but it is still football, then you can be more mature in some situations, and then you are able to handle it. They look like two young guys that can step in and play the first game for us if we need them too.”
How much OU needs them is the question. Playing more than three running backs in meaningful situations is tough, and OU is going test Murray’s physical limits this season. After him, though, the competition is wide open.
“I think when you at Oklahoma, you have talent across the board. We will see once we get into some live situations how good that talent really is,” Gundy said.
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
