What Demarco Muarry and Michael Jordan Have In Common

It has been said that the only person that could hold Michael Jordan under 30 points was Dean Smith, Jordan's college basketball coach. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball, team hosted other All-Americans besides Jordan, but more importantly they ran a slow tempo style of offense that didn't fit Jordan's explosive style. Jordan still shined and did what he could, but had Dean Smith just given the ball to Jordan and let him do his thing, they would have won more championships.

Yes, this is a football blog, no we are not changing. I say what I said about Jordan to say this, Bob Stoops and Demarco Muarry are the exact same. Look at Muarry's Redshirt Freshman season last year he made big play after big play with scores on runs from 92 yards and 65 yards. He also helped on special teams with kickoff return scores of 91 yards and 81 yards. He amased 764 yards, 13 toudowns with 6 yards per carry last year while sharing the load with two backs. Not to mention he averaged 29.3 yards per kick return with two scores. This year the numbers aren't down actually, but the numbers are misleading. Yes, Muarry has 520 yards and 7 touchdowns and a deceptively good average of 4.8 yards per carry. But this is not the Demarco Muarry expected coming out of high school and not the glimpses of stardom we saw last year. His longest run from scrimmage this year is 49 yards, he had 35 more carries through the first five games this year than last year and his longest kickoff return was 38 yards. To the average athlete these are great number, but not for Muarry. Muarry dislocated his knee cap last year causing him to miss the last three games of the year as well as spring drills but he and Stoops say he is healthy.

Muarry's father, Kevin Muarry, helped mold his son into the future NFL star he is and has noticed a hitch in his son's giddy up.

"Something is not there this year," Kevin said. "I don't know what's the problem. Either he's still hurt and doesn't want to say anything or he doesn't have the confidence back in that knee. He always says, 'Dad, I'm OK.' I think it's more of his confidence."

Offensive Coordinator for the Sooners, Kevin Wilson has this to offer on Muarry's performance.

"I see him cutting against the grain and trying to find big plays instead of just running," Wilson said. "If you're looking to make a big play, you won't make it. Just like trying to find a four-leaf clover. Sometimes it's right in front of you. You see it even though you're not looking for it.

"He will make more big plays by just playing hard and sticking to it. Like last year at Texas (on Murray 's 65-yard run), he just hit it hard, here's a crease, he jumps over a guy and he's gone."

I disagree with Muarry's father and coach Wilson. However, I place full blame on Wilson and Stoops. If you look at Muarry's running style in high school, he was the next Reggie Bush. Did Pete Carroll change Bush's style, no he let him flourish into a Heisman trophy winner and a top 3 draft pick in the NFL. Muarry's coaches are changing his running style and making him run stiff, inconsistent, and unconfident. The coaches need to realize that if they wanted a one cut running back they should have recruited one.

Brian Westbrook, Reggie Bush, Marshall Faulk, Barry Sanders and many other great running backs with unconvential running backs have succeeded and been some of the most marketable backs of all-time. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Well, Stoops and Wilson broke Demarco Muarry's running style when there was nothing wrong with it and now they must fix it and let the boy do his thing.

We at 6magazine hope to see the real Demarco Muarry before the season is over if not hopefully soon in the NFL.