Two seniors, a junior, and a sophomore. That’s the makeup of Oklahoma’s 2019 football captains and you won’t find a player, or fan, anywhere that has a legitimate problem with it.
Chosen by us, to lead us.
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) August 28, 2019
2019 Captains:@Path2Greatwork@creed_humphrey @JalenHurts @Kmurrayy_9 #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/vG09KNoD1o
Neville Gallimore, Creed Humphrey, Jalen Hurts and Kenneth Murray were all selected to lead the team this fall and, as the Tulsa World’s Eric Bailey points out, they all come from different levels of experience with the Sooners.
OU football: What’s unique about the #Sooners quartet of team captains?
— Eric Bailey (@EricBaileyTW) August 28, 2019
4-year player: Neville Gallimore
3-year player: Kenneth Murray
2-year player: Creed Humphrey
First-year player: Jalen Hurtshttps://t.co/8KnMcNnbRw
Murray is the only player to have been a team captain in 2018 while the other three making their crimson and cream debuts at the coin toss on Sunday night.
Gallimore is going into his fourth year as a Sooner contributor. Through his previous three seasons he’s logged 38 game appearances with 24 starts.
It’s Hurts and Humphrey that really tell the story though. Leadership doesn’t have to be based on longevity. Humphrey is the only returning starter from an offensive line that was the best in the nation last year and could actually end up being the best of that group before it is all said and done. He’s the unquestioned leader of this year’s guys in the trenches and will most likely end up setting the tone for the 11 guys who take the field on the offensive side of the ball.
Jalen Hurts took the reigns of the team immediately upon his arrival for the spring semester, which begs the question of why it took so long for him to officially be named the starter?
In looking at Oklahoma’s four captains you see four guys in different stages of their careers. Hurts, although a first-year player at OU, is the most accomplished of all of them and his short tenure on campus shows that he was respected and looked up to from Day 1. That’s exactly what you want to see from your starting quarterback and, honestly, it’s what you want to see across the board from your leaders.
That is what makes this group of captains special. The diversity in their journeys is as unique as the individual players that they are. Yet the team collectively saw their talents, their work ethic, and their talents in bringing them together as leaders.
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