FRISCO, Texas — Kenneth Murray hears all. The sophomore linebacker at Oklahoma isn’t hesitant to let everyone know he has heard all the talk and criticisms from media members and those outside the program when it comes to the Sooners defense.
But with two words, Murray summed up the entire mood of the Oklahoma defense as it heads into the 2018 campaign.
“We’re hungry,” Murray said. “That’s That is just how I’m going to put it. We’re hungry. Every dude on defense right now is hungry. We hear everything that has been said. Everything that has been said. Everything that every media person has said, all that. You know exactly what I’m talking about. We hear it all. It’s driving us. It’s making us 1,000 percent hungrier. We have been I the lab working. Guys are just ready to hit the field.”
The last time Oklahoma fans saw OU defense, they were giving up 48 points in the semifinals of the College Football playoffs to Georgia. Much of the blame for Rose Bowl defeat was thrown at their feet and it’s something they have had to take and live with all summer.
Murray was center of the blame game as he caught out of position several times, which allowed the Bulldogs to rack up a ton of yardage on the ground.
It also helps explain why not a single member of the Sooners defense was named to the media’s preseason all-Big 12 team.
“I can say something about that, but I am not,” Murray said. “At the end of the day, it’s not even worth it. I am not going to sit here and be mad over a “preseason”, the season hasn’t even started yet. I’d be hot if I wasn’t o the real one. That’s really my main focus. I am not worried about no preseason all-this. There have been a bunch of players who have been preseason da-dad-da who’ve been sorry. It is what it is. It’s not something you should focus on. You should keep working and the season will take care of itself.”
Improved Recruiting
Despite the chip on the shoulder the Sooners will be playing with this season, it will take more than that to overcome the deficiencies they showed last season. For coach Lincoln Riley, the turnaround started on the recruiting trail.
“I think the recruiting has been the biggest thing for us,” Riley said. “We’ve simply got to increase our talent level overall. And I do think we’re on the way to doing that. I do think our best talent, defensively, is in our youngest classes right now. Which is good and bad. But I think we’re headed that direction.”
Riley pinpointed the areas on defense he has seen the biggest jumps.
“I think the thing I’ve seen is you got to have really good players. You got to be really good up front and you got to have quality depth,” Riley said. “And I think maybe that’s been some of the areas that we’ve lacked the most, especially the depth. We got to get back to being dominant up front. We’ve had our flashes, we’ve had our moments, but we got to get back to being dominant on the defensive front.”
Defensive end Amani Bledsoe agrees with his coach on how much better the front line will be this season.
“We have a lot of younger guys who showed a lot of improvement over the spring,” Bledsoe said. “Overall the defensive line, there is a lot of talent that a lot of people don’t know about. I’m excited for us to be able to unleash them this year. You have to have disruption upfront. It always starts upfront on both sides. You have to have a big impact on every game and take over every game. That energy has to rub off on the rest of the defense.”
For Bledsoe, being a leader is the most important part of his game that he is looking to see blossom.
“I’d say trying to not necessarily having the same energy as Baker (Mayfield), but the same effect o the rest of the players on the defensive line and the younger guys as well. Having an impact on them, being able to lead by example. Bring them along with me.”
Riley continues to be impressed with his youthful defenders.
“I feel like some of our best talent defensively right now,” Riley said. “is from our freshmen and sophomore classes. We are probably only going to play with maybe one, maybe two seniors this year, which is alarming in some ways. But it also I think shows we’ve been on a nice run recruiting over the last couple of years.”
Riley said defensive recruiting has been and will continue to be a focal point for his program.
“I think that is, to me, our number one issue. We have good players, don’t get me wrong. But our talent level has not been the same as some of the other defenses in the country,” Riley said. “I think for us it’s about consistency. We’ve had some great moments defensively, one down the road here in the Big 12 Championship game we completely shut down Ohio State in Columbus. We’ve had some great moments defensively, but we’ve got to play like that more often.
“We’re building,” he continued. “I know that’s something in this period of time having this entire off- season as the head coach as opposed to last year I felt like I’ve been able to do my job better on that front, because I’m the one that’s ultimately responsible for it. I feel great about our staff going in. I love our talent. Even though it’s young, we’re going to have to grow up in a hurry. But I don’t think we’re far off from being the kind of defense that we want to be.”
