Kenneth Murray doesn’t need pro day.
The 6-foot-2, 248-pound linebacker showed NFL scouts everything they needed to see at the combine on Feb. 29, meaning he won’t participate in OU’s Pro Day Wednesday. He’s already considered one of the best linebackers in this year’s draft class, arguably behind only Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons. And he’s primed to be the Sooners first defensive player taken in the first round since former defensive lineman Gerald McCoy was taken No. 3 overall in the 2010 draft.
But this shouldn't be a surprise, says those who have raised him, trained him, coached him and played alongside him. He’s been a freak of nature his entire life.
“I call him ‘meat’ because he’s looked like a man since he was like 2 years old,” said Murray’s uncle Lynn. “When he was born, I said ‘that’s a man right there.’”
Murray has trained nearly his entire life for the NFL and is more than prepared to help a team come September. In his three years at Oklahoma, he totaled 325 tackles, 36.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.
But he hasn’t always loved football. In fact, the first sport the Missouri City, Texas, native played was golf, followed by baseball and then basketball. He was a standout at all three, with his dad, Kenneth Murray Sr., thinking his son had the potential to be a professional golfer one day.
Murray’s first love was basketball. He was an above average player, often being more athletic than his peers, but he was too physical. Each time he was fouled, he wanted to fight the kid who fouled him.
Enter football.
Murray played his first football game at 8 years old, after encouragement from Lynn. And from the moment he put his pads on, his coaches knew they had a rare talent.
“He just looked like a complete athlete in his uniform. He looked amazing,” said Tim Boutte, who’s trained Murray his entire life. “Everything fitted right, he did all his drills nice and smooth. I knew this kid was going to be good the first time I saw him. I didn’t even know his name.”
Murray was a natural. He played mostly running back and receiver, scoring nearly each time he touched the ball.
“His first touchdown catch,” Boutte said, “we were in an empty offense with Kenneth at receiver, we threw him a deep post across the middle and Kenneth dove and caught the ball with one hand in stride, no bobble.”
Murray played defense, despite being reluctant at first. His youth coach, Antonio Flagg, forced him to play on the defensive side of the ball, seeing his potential there.
“He may not want to play defense,” Flagg recalls thinking, “but he’s pretty damn good at it.”
Boutte recalls the first time Murray played defense and took a hard hit from an opposing player.
“I want to get my lick back,” Murray said to Boutte.
“Well go get your lick back then,” Boutte responded.
“He went from one end of the field to the other and he broke this kid up so bad, oh my God,” Boutte said. “It looked like Cam Chancellor.”
Murray’s youth team, the South Post Eagles, rarely lost. The team included multiple Division I athletes like Florida defensive back Donovan Stiner, Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, Texas A&M forward Savion Flagg and now-Minnesota Timberwolves and former Kentucky small forward Jarred Vanderbilt. Murray’s AAU basketball team, the T-Bulldogs, included many of the same players.
“We didn’t lose often,” said Flagg, who coached both teams. “In either sport.”
Murray was arguably the most athletic on either team. Flagg said on the basketball court, Murray was a mix between Gary Payton and Draymond Green, who ironically have each won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award in their careers.
Murray quit basketball after middle school, deciding to focus on football in high school and beginning to train with Boutte every day.
Boutte, who played football at Texas Southern, is a well-known athletic trainer in the Houston area. He’s trained dozens of professional athletes, many of whom Murray trained alongside as a kid.
Guys like Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Duane Brown, New York Giants linebacker Connor Barwin, Arizona Cardinals linebacker Brooks Reed, former Philadelphia Eagles wide received Josh Huff, as well as former NBA players Corey Brewer, Gerald Green, John Lucas III and Raymond Felton.
“He was out-running some of my NFL receivers at 16 in the 200 meters,” said Boutte, who has been preparing Murray for the draft at BreakAway Speed Sports Training facility in Houston. “I mean, Kenneth was moving.”
In the summer of Murray’s junior year of high school, he trained with track star and former Olympian Philip Redrick.
Redrick, 22 at the time, was training to make Team USA for the 2016 Summer Olympics at the time while Murray was preparing for his junior season at Elkins High School. Boutte often had the two race in the 40-yard dash.
Murray, at 16, ran around a 4.67. Redrick around a 4.37.
“He was pretty quick for a high school linebacker,” Redrick said. “But he never beat me.”
Redrick went on to just miss the 2016 Olympic track team, but was an alternate for Team USA’s bobsled team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Murray, as Redrick expected, went on to be one of the best linebackers in college football.
“I knew he was going to be great not because of his speed, which of course was phenomenal,” said Redrick, who is now the head track coach at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas. “But because of his work ethic. He was relentless. He challenged me every day, knowing he couldn’t beat me … with that mentality, I knew he’d be successful.”
Murray’s speed wasn’t the only thing that separated him in high school. He was also a monster in the weight room. His coach at Elkins, Dennis Brantley, said Murray benched over 300 pounds, squatted over 400 pounds and to this day holds the school record for power clean at 295 pounds.
“He was a specimen. He was an animal,” Brantley said. “But what made him special was who he was off the field and outside the locker room … He never missed a game. He never missed a practice. Hell, I don’t think he ever missed a day of school.”
And that’s what makes Murray a hot commodity in this year’s NFL draft. Sure, his athletic ability is off the charts, running a 4.52 40-yard dash and benching 225 pounds 21 times at the combine.
But it’s his heart and passion for the game that sets Murray apart from others. And soon, he and his family will reap the rewards of his hard work.
“Our lives are changing,” said Murray Sr., a preacher and father to three children with special needs. “It’s kind of a dream. It’s something he’s dreamed of and our family has dreamed of for a long time, and now that it’s here, it’s kind of surreal.”
