Demarco Murray

[Van Wilder]

I had heard that DM had changed his number to #7 so that if he plays that reggie smith and him can be on the field at the same time. Is this true? If not is he still #3? Thanks

[Snrfn4ever08]

I had heard that DM had changed his number to #7 so that if he plays that reggie smith and him can be on the field at the same time. Is this true? If not is he still #3? Thanks
i haven't heard anything about it and i don't know if it's true, but i hope it is. we should have murray on one side and reggie on the other for kick returns

[Van Wilder]

I agree, i had heard this from a guy on soonerscoop.com and thats what he said but i thought it would be a good idea so we can forget about the past #7 plus having both of them on the same field could be deadly either kickoff returns or offense IMO.

[Sooner-N-KS]

soonersports.com DOES have Murray wearing #7.

[Van Wilder]

sweet!

[FlatheadSooner]

Bad news for Austin Box. :(

Good news for OU. :)

[Van Wilder]

He can still wear #7 since he'll be on defense. You think he will?

[FlatheadSooner]

He can still wear #7 since he'll be on defense. You think he will?


ENID - Austin Box always wanted to keep his jersey number when he went to Oklahoma.

Now, he wants No. 7 even more.

The number has become a reminder of the trouble in Soonerville. Before being booted off the football team for accepting pay for work he never did, Rhett Bomar wore No. 7. Now the team isn’t using it, and the fans aren’t sporting it.

Box hopes to change that.

“I would love to get the chance to wear it just to ... make a new name for it,” the Enid High superstar said. “Make No. 7 a number to remember in Oklahoma history.”

And he might just have the talent to do it.

Box is considered the state’s top recruit, ranking first according to Rivals.com and Scout.com. The latter recruiting service went even further in its praise, tabbing the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder the best safety in all the land.

A year ago, though, Box was a relative unknown. Folks in Enid knew him since he’s lived there his whole life and played varsity football and baseball since he was a freshman.

The most diehard of recruitniks knew him, too.

But beyond that, he was a good player on a decent big-school team.

Now, he’s Austin Box.

But who is Austin Box?

To know that, you need to know the story of No. 7. Why his father first had him wear it. Why it fits him so well. Why it carries great promise and great pressure. Why, too, Box just might meet all its expectations.


---
Austin Box came by his love of sports naturally. Genetically, even. His father played football at Northwestern Oklahoma State, his mother volleyball. With his two older sisters playing sports, it was a constant part of his life.

Box and his father, Craig, watched sports on television all the time. Baseball. Basketball. Football.

And when they weren’t watching them, they were playing them.

“He was always out in the yard teaching me stuff,” Box said of his father. “I’m sure he wasn’t out there by choice a lot.”

Craig Box said, “Used to wear me out every night.”

His broad shoulders bounced as he chuckled.

“Throw me one more pass,’ or ‘Throw me one more ball,’ or ‘Hit me one more flyball.’ ”

Craig Box always did, not only because he could see how much Austin loved it, but also because he’d seen a glimpse of what his only son might become.

Austin was 4 years old when he started playing tee ball. Because the rest of the kids were 5, he usually played outfield or third base. The last game of the season, though, he moved to pitcher. No spot is hotter in tee ball.

Sure enough, a kid hit a screamer right at him.

“I mean, right at him,” Craig Box said. “For a split second, I’m going, ‘Oh, my God.’ ”

Austin dropped down and snagged the ball, then stood up and made a perfect throw to first base.

“He hadn’t had one like that hit to him all summer,” Craig Box said, still marveling all these years later. “He didn’t flinch. He just made the play.”

Austin, his father figured, needed to wear No. 7.

Just like Mickey Mantle.


---
No matter the sport, Box seemed a natural. He was always the biggest kid in the class - he was 6-1, 165 pounds in sixth grade - but he never bumbled or stumbled around. He skipped the awkward phase entirely.

“He’s always been the star,” friend and teammate Matthew Athey said.

That remained the same even when Box started high school. He began like all freshmen on the freshmen football team, but before the leaves turned, he moved to varsity.

“He went from sitting in the stands with us to making interceptions,” Athey said.

Lots of interceptions, actually. Even though Box only played a shortened varsity season, he picked off seven passes.

The next season, teams that tried to pick on him as a freshman did the exact opposite. They threw away from him and knocked his interception total down to nothing.

A mid-season injury only added to an already tough year.

“After my sophomore year, nobody knew who I was,” Box said. “I had to make a name for myself my junior year.”

All he did was go out and run for 815 yards and throw for almost 1,500 yards while recording 73 tackles. Even more than the numbers, Box became known for his physicality. He tracks down ballcarriers, closes on them, then levels them. He runs like someone smaller but hits like someone bigger.

Much bigger.


---
The Choctaw running back hit the hole, sidestepped one guy, then juked another. Then he got to Box. Or rather, Box got to him.

He stopped.

His helmet did not.

“That’s why I love football, just getting to lay licks like that,” Box said of the hit during a preseason scrimmage a week ago. “That’s the ultimate reward, I think, even over scoring a touchdown or getting an interception.”

Off the field, Box is one of the guys. He hangs out. He cuts up. He watches TV and plays video games.

“But ever since he was little, when he crossed those white lines, he was a fierce competitor,” his father said. “He’s always wanted to compete at the highest level.”

Always wanted to win, too.

Losses have reduced him to tears. And not just as a kid in the car after a little league game. Last season when Enid finished the regular season with losses to Ponca City and Stillwater that kept it out of the playoffs, Box’s emotions boiled over.

“He cried like a baby,” said his dad, a lawyer in Enid. “It just killed him to lose.”

His mom, Gail, a counselor at the high school, said, “He’s the hardest person on himself. I have to remind him occasionally, ’You can’t be perfect all the time, son.’ ”

Box understands that, of course, but it doesn’t keep him from striving for that perfection. He wants so badly to be great. To be the best.

Like Mickey Mantle. Box has read as much as possible about the man who wore No. 7 for the New York Yankees. He knows, then, that Mantle grew up in Oklahoma, that he honed his skills in the yard with his father, that he played with tenacity and passion, and that he hit with power that was matched by few.

Box knows, then, that he has more in common with Mantle than just his number.

“Being an Oklahoman, he’s always been someone I idolized,” Box said. “He’s just kind of a go-getter.

“That’s what I want people to remember me like.”

[Van Wilder]

FlatheadSooner, I'm gonna go out on a limb but i think austin wants to wear number 7. lol

[SoonerDood]

I'm sure if ****head was still here, Murray would've worn a different # so he could play.

[FlatheadSooner]

FlatheadSooner, I'm gonna go out on a limb but i think austin wants to wear number 7. lol


As Robert DeNeiro would say "Just a little bit". ;)

[jccouger]

I read last weekend from in the paper on a quote from stoops and he is only planning on using 3 freshman for sure. And maybe 4 others. Murray was not listed in either catagory. So I guess this means he is red shirting?

[Readyfor8]

As Robert DeNeiro would say "Just a little bit". ;)

worst impression EVAR!!!

everyone knows you say it as one word... Read this starting low and ending high... "alilbit"... DeNiro thinks just is superfluous...

[Desert Sapper]

I think maybe Murray picked #7 to make people forget the Idiot a little sooner. He had a few numbers to choose, some of them really great numbers, but he chose 7 as his 'other than 3' number. Thinking about his senior video gives me the idea that he could do something special this year. When Box gets here, we could have two big time #7s.

[HarrisTubbsFan]

Murray can Box can both wear 7. Jason Carter and Manual Johnson both wear 6 right now. I'm sure there's a hundred other examples of double numbers in the past.

[OUstudent4life]

...But the most notable change is that of freshman running back DeMarco Murray from No. 3 to the now-infamous No. 7, most recently held by dismissed quarterback Rhett Bomar.

It’s still doubtful Sooner fans will see No. 7 on the field this season. Murray, a true freshman from Las Vegas, has been hampered by a severe turf toe injury and will likely be redshirted...

"turf toe" in Stoopsese = lost most of his left leg, right?

[sooneron]

Murray can Box can both wear 7. Jason Carter and Manual Johnson both wear 6 right now. I'm sure there's a hundred other examples of double numbers in the past.
AP/AD

[CU Sooner]

Murray can Box can both wear 7. Jason Carter and Manual Johnson both wear 6 right now. I'm sure there's a hundred other examples of double numbers in the past.

FYI, Manual has changed to #1.:)

[MiccoMacey]

Murray can Box can both wear 7. Jason Carter and Manual Johnson both wear 6 right now. I'm sure there's a hundred other examples of double numbers in the past.

They can have the same jersey number, but they can't be on the field at the same time. So if Reggie wants to play offense while DM is playing, something has/had to give.

The examples you give are an offensive player and a defensive player.

[Desert Sapper]

We have Patrick and Iglesias listed as the #1 KR guys. Reggie is the PR and nobody else should be back there with him. I didn't know Allen Patrick was that fast.

[RedstickSooner]

So, this bit:

The Choctaw running back hit the hole, sidestepped one guy, then juked another. Then he got to Box. Or rather, Box got to him.

He stopped.

His helmet did not.

“That’s why I love football, just getting to lay licks like that,” Box said of the hit during a preseason scrimmage a week ago.

When I first read it, I thought it meant that he'd de-helmeted another player during a preseason scrimmage. Which seemed, y'know, cool and all - but also maybe a smidgeon over-enthusiastic.

Then, eventually, reading comprehension took over -- and I realized that the quote was given during a preseason scrimmage.

Not the hit.

I felt silly :D

[Desert Sapper]

I'm all about having as many players that can knock a dude into next week on the same field at the same time.

[goingoneight]

We have Patrick and Iglesias listed as the #1 KR guys. Reggie is the PR and nobody else should be back there with him. I didn't know Allen Patrick was that fast.

I worry about that since we didn't have even one decent KR or PR last season. We went from the best in NCAA history, to ranked outside the top 100 special teams units.

Howsaboot... Norman Box??? Has a nice ring to it... :D

[melbitoast]

I think Mr. Box has forgotten about a damn decent #7 from just a couple of years ago....Brandon Everage.