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Oklahoma football: Staff roundtable – 12 questions facing OU in 2019

By Christopher Dukes

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: Oklahoma Sooners fans cheer during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: Oklahoma Sooners fans cheer during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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Who is the most important member of the defense?

CR: Junior linebacker Kenneth Murray was selected as the Preseason All-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year for a reason. He is not only Oklahoma’s best defensive player but arguably the best defensive player in the Big 12 entering the 2019 season.

CD: When was the last time the Sooners had a real dominant defensive tackle to draw consistent double teams? One could argue you would have to go back to Gerald McCoy to find the last one, but Neville Gallimore has all the tools to be just that at Oklahoma.

Leaner, faster and hungry for a big season, Gallimore can be a matchup nightmare at near 300 pounds with 4.7 speed. Nothing ruins an offensive gameplan faster than having a large man living in your backfield and eating up your quarterback and running backs. If the Sooners can get that out of Gallimore, they’ll be able to dictate to offenses on their terms and change

Do you think Jalen Hurts will win the Heisman Trophy? Why?

CR: Nothing would be more exciting than for an Oklahoma quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy for a third consecutive year. This is probably not going to happen, but it doesn’t matter because Jalen Hurts has the big-game experience and is plenty good enough to lead the Sooners to a much bigger prize: the national championship. With the array of offensive talent around him, Hurts, who played the last three seasons at Alabama before transferring to Oklahoma, doesn’t have to put up Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray-like numbers to lead the Sooners to a third consecutive College Football Playoff and their ultimate goal.

He may not win the Heisman Trophy, but it would not be surprising to see Hurts beat out Texas’ Sam Ehlinger as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

CD: I think at some point Heisman voters are going to start suffering from Sooner fatigue after two OU quarterbacks won the award in back-to-back seasons. Even more than that, a Sooner quarterback has been invited to New York for each of the last four seasons.

Unfortunately for OU, I think this will affect Hurts’ chances at the trophy, that plus the fact that Trevor Lawerence enters the season as the odds-on favorite after shredding the Alabama defense in last year’s national title game.

Still, I think Hurts puts up good enough numbers both on the ground and through the air to make sure a Sooner quarterback is a finalist for the fifth-straight season.

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