Murrays Dad Speaks On His Sons Injury

[CK Sooner]

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/10/oklahoma-rb-murrays-father-speaks-out-ab.html


Something is not there this year," Kevin Murray told The Dallas Morning News. "I don't know what's the problem. Either he's still hurt and doesn't want to say anything or he doesn't have the confidence back in that knee. He always says, 'Dad, I'm OK.' I think it's more of his confidence.

[adoniijahsooner]

It's very obvious that he is bracing himself when tacklers go for his legs. to be honest the only way to get through what he is going through is to keep playing. On one play against TCU he caught a pass, skipped, and juke the hell out of one defender while getting tackled by the next, so he still has some moves, he just needs his confidence back. I dont think the extra weight and muscle helped either.

[Fraggle145]

Maybe a bad analogy, but if you watched Reggie Bush since hes beein in the NFL he has pretty much been average... then last night once he got that first PR for a TD he was pretty much amped and got another one and almost had a third. He looked like a completely different player.

I think DM just needs to break one or two and he will be back on track.

[badger]

He needs confidence and his knee needs more time before it "feels" right. Still, this DM is good enough to beat texas with. :D

[Collier11]

I think DM just needs to break one or two and he will be back on track.

Exactly, one big run against ut and he will get his confidence back

[boomersooner28]

I sent my buddies a text during the Baylor game about this. DM is not right. He is running hesitantly and "scared". I see a huge difference when Madu gets in the game. Madu has no hesitation and flies through the hole like he's shot out of a cannon. I am a huge fan of DM, but until he gets his game back I would like to see Madu get some of his carries.

[wishbonesooner]

I think his hesitancy is normal for someone who has had a knee injury. He has not looked like the runner he was last year, and I'm afraid that injury has cost him some speed. Maybe he'll get it back, maybe not.

[badger]

I suspected in our last DeMarco thread that he was injured beyond what happened last season. I hope he gets well soon. Madu and Brown will hold the line just find until he's 100 percent. Give him time to recover. :)

[VA Sooner]

Patella dislocation... tricky to re-gain that confidence. I dislocated mine and had a whole host of exercises to do before being able to climb stairs after 4 or 5 months. And I don't have any of the juke moves that DeMarco has. He'll get it back... he'll have to test it little by little to get his mojo back... but he'll get it back.

USC's Sanchez however... still working on that knee and no time to rehab. Will be interesting to see if Pete Carroll pushes his QB out there to perform or if Mustain will have to take over like he did last weekend against Oregon. (Yeah... the venom for USC is still there...)

[Jason White's Third Knee]

I've noticed that right before Murray gets hit, he'll do a quick hop and go down rather than plant or run through an opponant. When he leaves his feet the tackler wraps him up and he drops. Sucks to see him like that.

[BoulderSooner79]

It's very obvious that he is bracing himself when tacklers go for his legs. to be honest the only way to get through what he is going through is to keep playing. On one play against TCU he caught a pass, skipped, and juke the hell out of one defender while getting tackled by the next, so he still has some moves, he just needs his confidence back. I dont think the extra weight and muscle helped either.

Recovering from a severe injury is a holistic process - mind and body. And I don't say that just because i live in Boulder :) People say it's all in his head or just a confidence thing, but the mental aspect is every bit as real as the physical. They both inhibit and athlete from doing something and they both get better with healing and rehab. I seriously doubt DM is 100% physically and the mental part is probably at a similar stage. I personally didn't think we would see him on the field until mid-season and not 100% until at least next spring. The fact he has been in every game and is still as good as any other back we have amazes me and it shows how hard he has worked. Makes me think we'll see him break out by bowl season and maybe even the CCG :D

But I have to agree with you about the extra muscle thing just from the technical aspect of my nature. Seems wrong to try to rehab from an injury and change the physics at the same time. More stress on the knee before it's even had time to heal.

[CK Sooner]

I sent my buddies a text during the Baylor game about this. DM is not right. He is running hesitantly and "scared". I see a huge difference when Madu gets in the game. Madu has no hesitation and flies through the hole like he's shot out of a cannon. I am a huge fan of DM, but until he gets his game back I would like to see Madu get some of his carries.

Me too.

He hits the hole hard and fast, im excited to see what he can do if they keep him in for a while.

[soonerspudman]

Me too.

He hits the hole hard and fast, im excited to see what he can do if they keep him in for a while.

Yea, I wouldn't say he runs scared, a lot of plays he hits the hole like a madman, it's the radical, full-speed cuts that are missing. I've wondered if maybe the trainers have told him to stay north and south for the first half of the season or something, maybe it is just the mental/confidence thing. Maybe this weekend is the time to let loose...

[Collier11]

Yea, I wouldn't say he runs scared, a lot of plays he hits the hole like a madman, it's the radical, full-speed cuts that are missing. I've wondered if maybe the trainers have told him to stay north and south for the first half of the season or something, maybe it is just the mental/confidence thing. Maybe this weekend is the time to let loose...

I dont see coaches or trainers telling any player this, when you play tentative or against your natural instinct is when you are most vulnerable

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

I'll take this opportunity for a little RHCF self-promotion to tie to my take on Murray. I was a college baseball pitcher (actually pitched briefly in the minors). I was a power pitcher until tearing my elbow pitching in a championship game in my junior year. While I didn't need surgery I was on the shelf as it turned out for about 3 months. When I came back my senior year I had lost 4-5mph which I thought was just slow in my arm strength recovering. At the end of my senior year when I had an epiphany that my baseball career could end as soon as we were eliminated a funny thing happened...my velocity returned. Didn't have anything to lose at that point. It wasn't that I was trying to hold back but it was that last little hump to get over. Enough of the RHCF promotion and to the point I was trying to make...

My take is Murray may not be 100% physically. It could be that "full" recovery takes longer. If could be though that he is close but just needs something that releases any inhibitions about running full speed. The Red River rivalry could be just the game to do that. I don't get the feeling watching him that he is playing hurt. Really it is just that little extra explosion that I think we will see before too long.

[MichiganSooner]

I think he is scared of getting hurt again. And it is difficult to fight mentally. I got hit by a kid who drove his car slowly through a stopsign 6 years ago. When I am approaching an intersection and the other vehicle has the stopsign and the other guy is approaching too rapidly, I steer my car close to the center line and even brake a bit. I don't want to get hit from the side again by a stopsign runner. I try to fight it but do it anyway. It is trust in that other driver and it is probably trust in his teammates, trust that the other team won't give him a cheapchop hit vs. not getting seriously hurt again.

[BornandBred]

After I blew my knee out, I didn't have faith for the longest time. Wearing a brace is as much mental as it it physical in it's support. I found it helped me a ton, I wonder if they've got him wearing one. Anyone know?

[StoopTroup]

I know folks like to use the words confidence when it comes to a knee injury.

I went through knee surgery in January.

I have since counseled a couple of folks who had theirs after I did...

I also had a Rotator Cuff Surgery in 2000 and the same thing happened with it that happened with my knee.

Yes you go through rehab...

Yes you start to feel better...

Yes you gain confidence...

But...

There comes a day and I can't tell you when that is...but you suddenly quit thinking about the little stuff your feeling about your recent repair and you suddenly just get this idea that..."Wow...I think my repaired knee (Shoulder) feels better then the other one".

This may not happen for everybody but it's happened to me twice.

I can't explain it...something just snaps and suddenly your back on your game.

It's an awesome feeling when it happens.

It's a lot of relief too.

Murray may not be there yet...

I hope he experiences it soon if he hasn't already that is...

[BornandBred]

Also, every little pop/twinge/tingle you think you've done it again and freak out a bit. That will pass, and when it does, he'll be back. I don't think the addition of muscle is bad for him, overall. It may make the knee take a bit longer to feel right, but it will surely prevent other injuries later.

[OUmillenium]

I have definitely noticed DM is not the same this year whether it is physical or psychological or both.

Also, he has been running up the middle/between the tackles a lot. He is obviously most effective on the outside, like his big run v. Ut last year.

We'll see how it goes.

[Scott D]

A full recovery for any sort of knee injury for a football player takes longer than 12 months. Probably closer to 18 months before a player feels completely comfortable with the knee.

[CK Sooner]

Murray is on College Football Live right now.

He said he is def. 100% and has is confidence back, says he just hasn't broken one yet and that there is a lot of games to go.

[CK Sooner]

How many kick returns has Demarco got to bring out this year.

It seems like all have gone to Iglesias?

[Collier11]

3 or 5

[KingDavid]

Maybe a bad analogy, but if you watched Reggie Bush since hes beein in the NFL he has pretty much been average... then last night once he got that first PR for a TD he was pretty much amped and got another one and almost had a third. He looked like a completely different player.

I think DM just needs to break one or two and he will be back on track.

Harumph!

[Whet]

DM also said he has just been too anxious, not waiting for the holes to open up. He said he just needs to settle down and wait for the hole.

[goingoneight]

Guys... Chris Brown had a similar operation.

Murray's sharing carries with two, sometimes three other guys and he also has one of the best quarterbacks in the country back there with him. He's not AD, and nobody within reason ever expected him to be... consistent 200-yard games with nothing but pounding away isn't his style. Ask any of OUr defenders who the toughest guy to defend on OUr offense is.

[SleestakSooner]

I've got the perfect cure for what ails Demarco... an eighty yard game winning romp for a touchdown at the RRR

[tommieharris91]

I've got the perfect cure for what ails Demarco... an eighty yard game winning romp for a touchdown at the RRR in the 1st quarter en route to a 30 point victory.

Fixed

[rainiersooner]

Guys... Chris Brown had a similar operation.

When did he have it?

[BoulderSooner79]

Guys... Chris Brown had a similar operation.



I don't think that's correct. I can't find the reference, but I recall that Chris had arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage or some other less severe repair.