Mr. Irrelevant runs a 4.19 in the 40 between his ears.
“I promise you, in a few years, he’s going to be something huge in football,” Noor Al-Khaouli told me Monday when I called about new Broncos linebacker Red Murdock, the last pick of the 2026 NFL Draft. “Because I’ve seen how smart the guy is. And how quickly he picks up things.
“If I explained a concept to him in (his) bio psych course, what would take me a week to explain to other people, he picked up right away. And I’m sure he’s like that on the field. He’s a very observant guy.”
He’s a researcher. A scholar.
“Red was never irrelevant, my friend,” Noor told me by phone from upstate New York. “Never, ever, ever, ever.”
Al-Khaouli first met Red in 2023, when the former was an athletic department tutor assigned to help Murdock, then a University of Buffalo linebacker, with his psychology studies. She saw a kid with a good head, a big heart and too many irons in the fire.
“At the time (I met him), Red was really struggling with his time management,” Noor recalled. “He was working a part-time job, he was playing football, he was studying until 2 or 3 a.m. to catch up on all his homework,” while having to go lift with his teammates at the crack of dawn.
“He was really passionate about psychology, really passionate about helping people,” Noor said. “Honestly, if he weren’t a football player, he would make a fantastic psychologist and community worker.”
Except he’s really good at the football part, too. As an undergrad, the 22-year-old Murdock is an empathic, curious, introspective sort who reads Angela Duckworth. With pads on, he’s a freight train with bad intentions.
Red didn’t miss a game as a collegian, breaking the FBS career forced fumble record (17) in just 34 appearances, a record that had once been held by another Buffalo Bulls player with NFL bona fides — Khalil Mack. He posted 143 tackles, 13.5 tackles for losses, five sacks and six fumbles forced last fall, despite playing with a fractured heel and torn ligaments in his right ankle.
“(The Broncos) are lucky to have him,” Noor said. “He’s a sweetheart.”
The two became friends, academic colleagues and even presented at a conference together. Murdock eventually became a research assistant for two years with the University of Buffalo’s “Narrative Lab” under psychology professor Hollen Reischer.
“In one of our studies, the older ladies loved him,” Noor chuckled. “They would actually ask about him, to see if he was coming in to participate in interviews (that day).”
Mr. Irrelevant remains a voracious self-help reader and a disciple of Andy Frisella’s “75 Hard” challenge — in which acolytes must undergo at least two 45-minute workouts, drink a gallon of water, read at least 10 pages of non-fiction and take a photograph of their progress daily.
“If I would bring chocolate or something into the lab, he would be completely repulsed by it,” Noor laughed. “That guy is dedicated.”
To his craft. To his studies. To his friends and his community. Red and Noor are both Virginia natives and shared an interest in community outreach. When she was tutoring Murdock, they’d sometimes go off on shared tangents about how some nonprofits weren’t really committed to the communities they serve, and how “a lot of people do this to look good.”
Julia Dietz, however, was not one of those people. at the University of Buffalo a few years back. It was initially launched as a branch of AOC Homework Helpers — — but has since changed its affiliation.
Its mission is to provide tutoring for K-12 students in underserved communities through free, virtual one-on-one sessions. The organization currently has roughly 300 volunteers who work with students across multiple regions out east.
More than a year ago, Dietz got a note from Noor, another UB grad, to say that a Bulls football player wanted to talk about how he could help. When Red made his pitch, he didn’t miss.
“There’s a real need for these services in my hometown,” Murdock told her. “There are a lot of kids that need access to education.”
“He was unbelievably passionate in the meeting,” Julia told me. “I said, ‘Absolutely, I’ll help you with this.'”
Which is why UB Homework Helpers now has branches in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Petersburg, Va., 25 minutes due south of Richmond.
Virginia’s cadre of Homework Helpers is Murdock’s baby. He spent more than three hours pre-launch reaching out to teachers and educational staff in his old hometown, crossing names off a spreadsheet, just to scout for help and to get the word out.
“Why do you want to give back so badly?” Noor asked him once.
“I wish I’d had something like this in my hometown growing up,” he replied.
Red’s in charge of roughly 50 volunteers, all while supervising them as a volunteer himself. So as his draft preparations cranked up, Dietz offered to take some of the Petersburg branch off his plate.
“I need to do as much as I can,” Murdock replied. “I want to use my platform to bring as much awareness as I can to it.”
The tough cookie’s got a gooey heart. You’d trust Red with your special teams or your 3-year-old. At a research gathering a few years back, the Broncos’ seventh-round draft pick found himself talking to the Reischers ‘ young daughter at her home. Before long, the child had Red reading her snippets from the classic children’s book “Where The Wild Things Are,” acting out every part.
“She was rapt,” Reischer texted me Monday.
Khalil Murdock was nicknamed “Big Red” as a youth for being born with freckles and crimson locks. He moved from Petersburg, Va., to Hopewell, Va., when he was 10. He graduated from Hopewell High, where he played with future Ohio State and Patriots tailback TreVeyon Henderson, in 2021. He graduated from Buffalo in the spring of 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology — magna cum laude with a 3.5 GPA.
“He wants to be ‘Dr. Murdock’ someday,” Noor said. “He’s a psychology guy. He’s very nerdy.”
He’s also loving. Loving and loyal. After a massive junior season that saw him rack up 156 tackles with 16.5 TFLs and seven forced fumbles for the Bulls, reps from Power 4 schools came knocking with cash in hand, trying to entice him to jump ship. He stuck it out in Buffalo.
“I’ve had opportunities,” Red recalled to reporters over the weekend. “But I mentioned earlier being a team-first guy — thatap all that matters to me.”
“He didn’t want to leave his teammates in Buffalo,” Noor added. “Red does not care about money. You could offer him thousands of dollars. He’s not giving up his loyalty. Or his values.”
Irrelevant? Not to her. Never, ever, ever, ever.
