TWO GOOD TO BE TRUE
Heisman fave Murray’s talent in second sport ‘fairly unprecedented’
There have been two-sport college superstars before. Bo Jackson. Deion Sanders. John Elway. Drew Henson. Nobody, however, has ever had a year quite like Kyler Murray.
In June, shortly after helping Oklahoma reach the Super Regionals in the NCAA tournament, he was the ninth overall selection in baseball’s amateur draft by the Oakland A’s. Seven months later, he’s in New York City, the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious award in college sports. In a few weeks, Murray will lead the Sooners into the College Football Playoff.
“It’s pretty remarkable. It’s got some Charlie Ward to that story,” Henson, the former Michigan quarterback and third-round pick of the Yankees who juggled both sports, said in a phone interview, referring to Ward winning a Heisman Trophy and passing on the NFL for the NBA. “This is everything a kid dreams — you get to do what you love to do, play at the highest level on the biggest stage, and still have these options.”
“It’s fairly unprecedented,” said Jim Callis, MLB.com’s draft and prospect guru. “I can’t remember the No. 9 player in draft being a two-sport player like that.”
It’s hard to argue he isn’t the nation’s most valuable player. The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Texan put up similar numbers to last year’s Heisman winner, former Sooners teammate Baker Mayfield. Murray was the nation’s leader in total offense (4,945 yards), points responsible for (306) and passing efficiency (205.7) and led Oklahoma back to the playoff, carrying the defensively challenged Sooners to the Big 12 title. He was one of three quarterbacks to throw for 4,000 yards and also rushed for 892 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“The only person I’m disappointed in is [A’s executive vice president] Billy Beane. I wish he would have given [Murray] more money,” UCLA coach Chip Kelly joked after getting dismantled by Oklahoma. “Maybe he wouldn’t have come back [for the football season].”
In agreeing to a $4.6 million signing bonus with the A’s, it was stipulated the 21-year-old Murray would play this season at Oklahoma and report to spring training in February, to begin his professional baseball career and devote himself to just that one sport. But he has hedged somewhat lately, going on ESPN’s “GameDay,” and saying he and his family will “weigh out the options of what
the NFL thinks of me” at the end of the sea-season. Murray also told reporters “as of now,” he was going to dedicate himself to baseball. That, according to agent Scott Boras, remains the plan.
“He has a contract,” Boras said. “He’s showing up to the A’s spring training in February and he’s going to pursue a very valued major league career.”
If Murray opted to put his name into the NFL draft, it’s uncertain how teams would value him. The experts’ opinions on Murray vary. Some, like ESPN’s Todd McShay, consider him a first-round talent, pointing to the league gravitating more toward athletes who can get out of the pocket and get the ball out fast. Others, such as Draft Network analyst Joe Marino, see him as a third-day prospect. Mel Kiper Jr., McShay’s colleague at ESPN, said if Murray were 3 inches taller, he would be the first player taken, but evaluates him as a second-rounder. Simply put, he would be a polarizing prospect.
While undersized quarterbacks such as Drew Brees and Russell Wilson have thrived, and Mayfield was the No. 1 pick in April, listed generously at 5-10, Murray is shorter than all of them.
“Five-10 is kind of unheard of when it comes to playing quarterback in the NFL,” Marino said.
Murray, however, is very much an unheard-of athlete. He enjoyed one of the most storied prep football careers in the football-crazed state of Texas. Murray led Allen High School to three straight state championships, going 43-0 and garnering MVP honors each year. As a senior, Murray was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year after producing 79 touchdowns. He set the baseball’s team’s all-time stolen-base record and hit nine home runs as a junior, a school mark as well, and was the first player to ever compete in the Under Armour AllAmerican football and baseball games.
“To me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime oppor-- tunity to be able to coach him,” Paul Coe, the Allen baseball coach, said.
Coe can’t wait to see what Murray will do if he focuses just on baseball. In high school, he rarely played during the summer, because of football, and still would’ve been a first-round pick, according to Callis, had he not made it clear he was planning to go to college.
Take this past spring, for instance. Murray had played very little baseball since high school. He skipped the spring of his freshman year at Texas A&M and, after transferring to Oklahoma, he struggled in 27 games the following season. But this past year, he reminded scouts why they were so high on him in high school, slashing .296/.398/.556 with 10 home runs, 47 RBIs and 10 steals in 51 games.
“Most guys don’t recover from [missing so much time], you need those at-bats,” Callis said. “He showed so much improvement.”
Scouts have compared him to five-time All-Star Andrew McCutchen. Most centerfield prospects, Boras said, don’t have all the tools — power, speed, arm strength, defensive ability and bat speed — Murray has flashed.
“If you put it all together, you have a 20-homer, 40-steal center fielder-type,” Callis said.
It remains to be seen whether Murray will attempt to keep up the two sports at the next level, a daunting challenge that would present conflicts. But his high school coaches both laughed at the suggestion it would be too much for him.
“Whatever Kyler puts his mind to,” Coe said, “is probably going to happen.”
The last seven months are a valid argument for his capabilities.
“I wouldn’t put it past him to play both professionally,” said Tom Westerberg, his high school football coach. “You might have heard it here first.”