Arizona Football: The hire of DeMarco Murray is paying off big time!
TUCSON, AZ – It’s been over seven months since former NFL running back, DeMarco Murray joined the Arizona Football staff, and it’s already paying off!
There has been quite a bit of change for the Arizona Football team this off-season, but sometimes change is a good thing!
Gone are offensive line coach Joe Gilbert, and running back coach Clarence McKinney. However, now on this years’ staff are former NFL players, Kyle DeVan and DeMarco Murray!
Arizona Wildcats
Murray of course is the biggest name, since he was a star at Oklahoma, and was a former Pro Bowl running back, playing most notably for the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Tennessee Titans.
Now, just playing in the NFL alone certainly doesn’t make you qualified to become a coach, but nonetheless, Murray is going to have a lot of experience and knowledge to be able to share with young players.
The move to make Murray the running back coach at Arizona was a little risky, but certainly worth the gamble if you’re Kevin Sumlin and the Wildcats!
Why? Well, he certainly carries the NFL pedigree, and he was a super star in college. He’s a very familiar name among recruits, and while it’s unclear at this time how he will perform there, just his name alone is worth it.
But then comes the ever important part as a college position coach, the actual coaching!
Like I said, he has plenty of experience as a player, and has a wealth of knowledge to teach, but how well will it translate.
So far, it seems to be paying off in a big way! As it stands, he has quite the stable of running backs to choose from, starting at the top with All Pac-12 first-teamer, J.J. Taylor, and the versatile Gary Brightwell. Together, the two combined for 1,959 yards on 346 carries (5.66 yard average), with nine combined rushing touchdowns.
However, the talent doesn’t stop there! No, in fact, Arizona may very well have the deepest backfield in the Pac-12 next season!
In addition to Taylor and Brightwell, Arizona will be able to utilize Bam Smith, who ran for 98 yards and 23 carries with a touchdown, plus, we may finally see an increased role from the talented, Nathan Tilford, who had a rather solid spring game!
That’s also not including the true freshman in Michael Wiley! Hailing from Texas, Wiley already looks the part of a division one college football player, but more importantly, he’s been drawing some early praise from the staff!
Noel Mazzone says freshman RB @_michaelwiley has “wiggle” and “really good knowledge of the game.” pic.twitter.com/cOUUIivFR8
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) August 10, 2019
How much credit goes to Murray himself? Who knows, but it definitely seems as if his hire is paying off so far, and that’s great for him and for Arizona!
Listen to coach himself speak on why he came to Arizona, and his approach to coaching and leading!
https://twitter.com/AZATHLETICS/status/1145533007475777536?s=20
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At Zona Zealots, we’re happy to have coach Murray here, and can’t wait to see how the running backs perform this season! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!