NFL’S Demarco Murray
DeMarco Murray is one of NFL’s most colorful players with many accolades and achievements to his name. Having began his career back in high school Murray has held his stand in football to become a professional player and now stars at Philadelphia Eagles after being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. Murray was born in February 1988 and went to Bishop Gorman High School in LV, Nevada. There he played football, basketball and track but it is in football that he shone. He won All-state honors and was picked three consecutive times for the All-conference besides winning Sunset Region award for player of the year. As one of the best running backs in his class, Murray attracted several offers from Penn State, Miami Florida, and Texas A&M among others. However, he chose Oklahoma at the 2006 All American bowl and wore the Oklahoma Sooners redshirt in the NCAA after joining college. Some of his records in university of Oklahoma include the following;
- All-Time points top scorer with 390 (record surpassed in 2014)
- All-Time Touchdowns (65) leader
- All-Time All Purpose Yards covered leader (6,718)
- All-Time Receiving Yards covered by a Running Back (1,571)
- All-Time Kickoff Return average leader (27.6) hi
Professional NFL Career
After playing football in high school and college, it was almost certain Murray would end up as a professional athlete. His records and honors already had the spotlight on him and his first major break come in 2011 when he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. Murray was drafted in the third round as the sixth running back and signed a four year deal contract worth $2.97 million in addition to a $622,000 signing bonus. His first season in 2011 began on a high as a third string running back where he bagged 14 carries for 39 rushing yards and 3 receptions for 16 receiving yards in the first four weeks. When Felix jones went down with an ankle injury facing New England Patriots, Murray took the opportunity and finished the day with 11 caries for 34 rushing yards and 1 reception for 7 yards. The next weeks showcased just how industrious he could be and ended with setting new records and coming close to breaking others. He ran 253 yards on 25 carries against the Eagles in Philadelphia (to break the 237 yards record) which included a 91 yard rush in the first quarter. His average of 10.1 yards per carry was the highest for a rookie with the club and the 10th most rushing yards in the league. He ran a couple more 100+ yards and led the rookies averaging 5.5 into the 2012 season.
The second spell had a few milestones including an injury that kept him six matches out. However, he still managed to run over 600 yards with 163 carries to finish the season on a high note. In 2013, he ran over 175 yards two consecutive times and set new records for the club. In the same year, he appeared in his first major Pro Bowl since joining in 2011. 2014 was perhaps the most spectacular year of the player. He began by breaking Jim Brown’s record of 100+ yards in the first 6 games by adding two more weeks to run over 100 yards in 8 consecutive weeks at the start of the season. Although he broke his arm and had to play on a bandage, he still made it to 12 games rushing over 100 yards and finished the season as the league’s top rusher. It was also hos second straight season where he ran 1000 yards.
In 2015, Murray agreed to a five year deal with Philadelphia Eagles on a contract worth $42 million. Unfortunately, he has failed to impress at the club since joining and a series of injuries have kept him out most of the time with his replacements performing way better. His only impressive run was a 30 yard rush in the first quarter in week four although he ended with 8 carries for 36 yards.
Conclusion
Despite a few struggles in the 2015 season, DeMarco Murray is a prolific talented athlete and his excellence in the field cannot be oversight. He is expected to return to his brilliant form that was seen in his days with the Cowboys. He is also a father of a daughter and is engaged to his wife. Hopefully, Murray can get back to those 100+ rushes to spur the Eagles into great seasons ahead in his 5 year contract period. His rise will definitely be a big inspiration and boost to the team.
This post was brought to you by Drinking Pruvit Ketones!