Kenneth Murray 2020 NFL Draft Profile

Kenneth Murray 2020 NFL Draft Profile

Playing his high school football for Texas’ Elkins High, Murray earned himself a solid three-star prospect ranking after he totaled 104 tackles and four sacks as a senior. Murray generated several offers from schools such as Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, and Oregon State before choosing to play for Oklahoma.

Murray had an instant impact for the Sooners as he started in all 14 games as a true freshman and ranked second among the team with 78 total tackles. As a 2018 sophomore, Murray again started all 14 games and earned a selection to the All-Big-12 second team after he led the team with 155 total tackles. Murray’s final season with Oklahoma was more of the same as he started all 14 games and again led the team in tackles with 102. Murray earned a selection to the All-Big-12 first team and concluded his three-year collegiate career with an astounding 335 tackles and started every one of his 42 games played.

Strengths

Tremendous athleticism for his size and has easy sideline to sideline range;

Great agility and burst when exploding to the ball carrier;

Hard hitter who can devastate ball carriers when he gets a square shot on them;

Good skills in both zone and man coverage;

Thumping linebacker who attacks downhill and fires hard into gaps;

Impressive maturity for his age and has natural leadership intangibles;

Has enough football IQ and size to become an elite inside linebacker;

Speed to power.

Weaknesses

Awareness needs improvement, but that will improve with more experience;

Good, not great coverage skills and would not be classified as a coverage linebacker;

Plays with his hair on fire but in some instances it leads to incorrect reads;

Block shedding needs to be more consistent;

Plays extremely fast and aggressive but his game could be improved by improving his discipline.

NFL Comparison: Jerod Mayo

Projection: Mid to late first round

Bottom Line on Kenneth Murray

Murray is a rare blend of size, speed, and power at the inside linebacker position. Murray excels as a thumping linebacker due to the speed at which he plays along with how hard he fires into gaps and hits ball carriers. While his coverage skills are not yet elite, he has solid fundamentals in both man and zone coverage as well as has the athleticism to improve those skills with more experience. Additionally, perhaps the biggest x-factor which separates Murray from his peers are his leadership intangibles and maturity. Murray is a plug and play starter at the next level within every defensive scheme and he should provide an instant upgrade at the position for several teams. With the proper coaching and development, Murray could develop into one of the top inside linebackers within the NFL and could turn out to be a draft steal in the back half of the first round.

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