A second former UCLA player will be making his way to Norman this year to join the Oklahoma football team.and
Offensive lineman Chris Murray announced this week that he is transferring to Oklahoma after playing two seasons at UCLA.
Listed at 6-foot, 2 inches and 298 pounds, Murray started 24 games at UCLA, including the game last season with Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl, won by the Sooners 48-14. He started the first three games his freshman season at center before moving to the guard position.
Murray announced his decision over Twitter:
"“God’s plan, and his only. Boomer Sooner.”"
Murray was recruited by UCLA as a four-star prospect, the No, 232 player overall and No. 9 offensive guard, according to 247Sports. He hails from Santa Clara, California.
He will have to sit out the 2020 season because of NCAA transfer rules unless he is able to secure a waiver. He will have two years of eligibility remaining beginning with the 2021 season.
Murray is the second UCLA player since the end of the 2019 season to transfer to Oklahoma. Wide receiver Theo Howard is already at OU, having entered the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. Howard tore his Achilles tendon and would have missed spring ball, but is expected to be back and ready to go in time for the 2020 season.
It may just be coincidental, but the fact that Oklahoma handily defeated UCLA twice in as many seasons — 49-21 in Norman in 2018 and by an even wider margin (by 34 points) last season in Pasadena — could have played a part in the decision of both players to leave a team that finished 3-9 and 4-8 the past two seasons for a team that was 12-2 both years and went to the College Football Playoff.