Comhusker nose tackle proves football ‘experts’ wrong
By Cory Golden
.. 1 111 1 " 1
starting middle
guard for the
Comhuskers.
Murray has
spent his foothill career being criti
cized for his lack of size by so-called
football ‘experts' who say the 5-foot
10, 240-pound Murray is too small to
be a lineman.
His solution is simple.
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“I don’t listen to them," be said.
“What do they know?”
Murray has proved them wrong
every step of the way. »*&***• s**
At Chicago Mount Carmel High
School, where he played as an offen
sive lineman, he was an All-Catholic
league selection.
Sophomore wingback Nate
Turner was one of Murray’s high
school teammates.
Turner said he remembers Mur
ray’s contribution to the squad as a
big one.
“I remember one play ...it was a
reverse. As a matter of fact, we ran
the same counter sweep we run here
(at Nebraska),** Turner said.
“'Mike was the offensive guard
and he was pulling. He knocked dk>wn
three guys on one play."
Turner shook his head.
“It was unbelievable,’’he said. T
went for about 70 yards that play.”
Despite his high school heroics,
size was still a problem for Murray,
Nebraska defensive coordinator
Charlie McBride said.
“Even small schools overlooked
him and didn’t recruit him because of
his size,*' McBride said. “He took a
big chance coming down here. But he
defied everybody, walked on and
earned a scholarship.’*
Murray has a simple solutkn
when asked why he walked on.
“Why not?" Murrey said. “It’s
got the heat walk-on program in the
country.
*\ “Any collage team's a challenge
to prove yourself. It made me work a
lot hander."
Murray's hard work earned him
the starting nose tackle root in 1986
on Coach ScoU Downing s 4-1 junior
varsity team.
Murray finished the season second
in tackles with 46.
As a sophomore, Murray moved
up to the varsity where he saw play
ing time in every regular season game
and the Fiesta Bowl against Florida
State.
Murray tallied 34 total tackles, 21
of which were unassisted slops, both
highs for a non-starter. He also added
five tackles behind the opponent's
line of scrimmage, including two
TUfVff
Hid junior year, Murrey battled
with Lawrence Pete for the starting
middle guard position. He started the
first three games until P&e took over,
and later started the Kansas State
game when Pete was injured.
Pete came back and earned All
Big Eight honors and was later picked
up .in the fifth round of the National
Football League draft, leaving Mur
ray to take over in the r^prina. .
Murray said he tikes the challenge
of being a starter. .
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“I*m pretty confident,” he said.
“I've been playing for two years
pretty steadily, so it s nothing new.
“Sometimes there’s a lot of pres
sure when ybu’re No. 1, but I feel
pretty comfortable with ii You know
you have to perform because nothing
is set in stone but you feel better about
yourself. It’s a good feeling.
“It’s always nice to be on top.
Turner said Murray hasn’t
changed off the Held since high
school.
“He’s the same ol’ Mike Mur
ray,” Turner said. “He’s nice - he’s
a nice guy, just don’t get on his bad
side,
“Mike’s the type of guy you don’t
want to mess with on his bad days.
That’s why he’s a nose guard, he’s
like that: he’s like a little fire cracker
waiting to go off.” •
Murrey said he doesn’t think he
has a real bad side.
“I’m ail right,” he said. “I mean.
I'm not ajerk or nothing. If I have a
bad day, I just don’t like to be both
ered.
StUl, Turner said he remains un
convinced.
i never gpi oni nu quo jiuc — nc s
too strong for me," he said. "I’d have
to take a bat to him or something to
c&iro him dm"
McBride mid that while Murray is
"rebitivaiy quiet as a football
pUyei , • a nasty stxeak still may be
there.
"Toplay dun position you have to
have flat/’ McBride said. ''You
don't have to show it outwardly. I’ve
had quiet lads and you wouldn't think
that's how they’d be on the Add.
"Sometimes if you play bird or
aggressive, people interpret that as a
"In any case, it’s nothing but an
aaaet to him on the field."
McBride said Murray's attitude is
toother one of his strengths.
"He gives conswnt overall ef
fort," McBride said. “‘Hi* motor's
running all the time.
"ferny own mfed, Mika is a guy
who has something to prove," he
said. "Mike plays a lot with his
ncan.
McBride said Murray's strengths
more than make up for his weak
nesses in a college football world
where most nose tackles "look like
giant fire hydrants."
"As football terminology goes,
Mike is undersized." McBride said.
"but he makes up lor it with his speed
and aggressiveness.
“Idon’t like using the word small
with Mike, because he plays 'big*.
Oftentimes when you go back and
watch films, he's taking big people
and throwing them around like rag
dolls."
Murray said he likes his pofitkxi -
sort of.
“The position ain't fun," he said.
“Well, ifs fun, but you get double
teamed a lot and it gets clogged up in
there.
Murray said he puts up with life in
the trenches because “I like playing
for a major college football team.
Especially here at Nebraska, be
cause we re good," he said.
“It’s * challenge every week and
it's my last year so I'm going to make
the most out of every week."
Murrgy also knows how to get the
most out of a story.
The Huskers' press guide lists
Murray's hobby as* hatching snakes.''
"I don't know where they got
that," the speech nurior said. "I
guess I must nave sold mem."
McBride said Murray sold Ne
braska's Sports Information Office a
few more snake twd^g tales when
they were writing s profile of him
recently.
He tom sports miormaiion mat
he word to India so hunt cobras,"
McBride said.
But Murray's coach knows differ
ently.
“I think hike's Dialing some
body's log,” McBride said. “He’s
been in cummer school, not in India.
“He’s from the South Side of
Chicago. He lived not far from where
I grew up,” he said.
McBride mid he used to go chase
gaiter snakes in the weeds by a set of
ndhoad tracks, as Murray did.
“Mike had some brothers and I
think that’s what they did, too.”
Turner heard his stories as well.
“I remember him saying some
thing about it to me," Turner said,
“and I was like... ’Snake hunting?
What are you talking about?* That’s a
weird hobby.”
“It’s no big deal,” Murray said.
“I used to catch snakes when I was
younger. They’re ptetty cool.
Murray paused.
“Boa constrictors...” he said,
“ever seen one of those?’’
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