Busy day for Murray
Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray will have a wild Saturday as he competes against quarterback Austin Kendall in the annual spring football game before changing into a baseball uniform to play No. 17-ranked Texas on Saturday.
NORMAN — Kyler Murray’s hectic two-sport weekend kicked off Friday night when the No. 11-ranked Oklahoma baseball team hosted No. 17 Texas in the opener of a critical three-game series at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Murray struggled at the plate, going 0 for 5 in a 7-6 loss to Texas after the Longhorns scored three runs in the ninth.
It was Oklahoma’s first loss to open a series this season.
The Sooners fell to 25-12 overall and 8-2 in Big 12 play.
Murray’s wild weekend continues Saturday with a doubleheader.
He’ll keep up his pursuit of the starting quarterback job on the football field when he plays for Team Peterson in the annual Oklahoma Spring Game.
Then Murray will be able to get a few hours of rest before the 8 p.m. start of game two of the Big 12 baseball series.
“I have a tough task, but coaches have drawn out a great plan for me,” Murray said last week. “For me, I’m just focused on one day at a time — whether it’s football, baseball or getting schoolwork done. It’s tough, but it’s going good for me.”
Murray’s weekend will actually be less hectic both than last year’s spring game weekend and last week’s road baseball series at TCU.
On both of those weekends, Murray traveled out of town with the baseball team on Thursday in advance of a weekend series, then flew back after the Friday games before football responsibilities Saturday and then a return flight to rejoin the baseball program.
Last season’s baseball schedule forced Murray to miss some baseball games and some football practices.
This year’s schedule —and plan —have allowed Murray to be present at all baseball games and football practices as he plays a huge role for the Sooners’ baseball team and competes against Austin Kendall on the gridiron.
“There were times last year he couldn’t do both,” football coach Lincoln Riley said. “You simply had to choose one of the other . ... We were fortunate the schedule worked out that way.”
Riley was a bit busy to make it out to the baseball park Friday, instead kicking off a massive recruiting weekend.
“I’m definitely gonna go do that after spring’s over,” Riley said. “I think the whole process has been smoother for him this time. Doing it last year, it’s not such a shock to his system. He understands he’s got to balance both. I think we’ve done a better job — us, Skip (Johnson) and the baseball guys — creating a schedule not only just practice and games, but also recovery, getting his school work done. I think we all just have a better feel. It was so new to us last year.”
Murray’s singleminded —or dual-minded — pursuit of athletic excellence helps as well.
“He’s gonna have to learn to balance some,” Riley said. “But he doesn’t do a whole lot outside of ball right now. There’s not a lot of guys that can handle that. Most guys that play just one sport need that offseason. Of course, they work on their craft, but they need that time away. He loves to be in the middle of it. You have to be committed to do what he’s doing. It’s a lot on his plate right now.”