Tuesday, August 29, 2000
Miami turns to freshman tailback
Murray called on to fill Prentice's big shoes
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Much of the 1990s, tailback at Miami University was a foregone conclusion.
There were four years of Deland McCullough, followed by a year of Ty King, followed by three years of Travis Prentice.
In each of the those eight years, the RedHawks knew the running game was in good hands.
This year, Miami entered the fall camp with a huge void at running back. Prentice has moved onto the NFL. He averaged 338 carries in his three years as the starter, so no one returned with any significant experience.
It was assumed that Steve Little, who had backed up Prentice, would win the job.
But that's not the case. Cal Murray Jr., a freshman from Columbus, stepped in when Little was hurt and won the job. Murray will start Saturday night when the RedHawks open the season against Vanderbilt in Nashville.
“What he's done is incredible,” Miami coach Terry Hoeppner said. “We didn't know what he had in him. He just keeps getting better and better.”
Murray is the son of Cal Murray Sr., who played at Ohio State and in the NFL for Philadelphia and Chicago. Cal Jr. starred at Bishop Watterson High, near Columbus.
He signed with Miami but could not play or practice last year because the NCAA did not clear him to play. The problem, Murray said, resulted in his transfer to Watter son after his freshman year.
“The NCAA didn't get the transcript from the other school in time,” he said.
Murray isn't bitter about it, although he was clearly ready for college academically. He earned a 2.8 GPA last year.
“I think it helped me in the long run,” Murray said. “I was able to work in the weight room and concentrate on school.”
Murray, 5-foot-10, pushed his weight up to 181 from 165 or so. He is a different kind of running back than Prentice, who weighed 228.
MU came to camp with a wide-open race to replace Prentice. Andy Dooley, at 6-3, 220-pound red-shirt freshman from Lima, is the biggest back in the bunch. He's listed at No.2 on the depth chart.Little (5-10, 206 pounds) and Daryl Robinson (5-11, 211 pounds), a re-shirt freshman from Colerain, are also bigger than Murray.
But Murray's speed and receiving skills make him the most versatile of the bunch.
“We were worried about Cal's durability,” Hoeppner said. “But we've had a very physical camp. We've run him hard inside, and he's held up well.”
Murray, in fact, got his chance because of Little's injury problems. Little bruised a knee in a scrimmage. He wasn't that much further ahead of the rest of the group to take his position back immediately.
“We talk about not getting "Wally Pipped,'” Hoeppner said. “We tell them not to miss practice because someone might take you job.”
Little, Dooley and Robinson all will likely get playing time before the year's over.
Little is the only one of the four who has played at Miami.
That will change Saturday. Murray will get the first series. And Miami hopes the second and third as well.
“Sometime you have situation where a running back gets hot,” Hoeppner said. “If that happens, we'll leave him in.”
The running game has always been key to Miami's fortunes. Mike Bath returns at quarterback as a third-year starter, and Sly Johnson, back from injury, is one of the best receivers in the Mid-American Conference.
But Miami won't be throwing 60 times a game.
“We like to spread the field,” Hoeppner said. “We want to be able to run the ball and score in the red zone. I compare us to Purdue because we're close to them and we watch what they do. They don't have a fullback on the roster. We have two good ones.”
“I think we'll be all right,” Hoeppner said. “I don't know if we have a Travis Prentice, but I think we have some quality guys.”
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