City of Allen has shaped Kyler Murray, Sooner offense
ALLEN, TEXAS — There resting against a window in the second-floor Allen High School athletic director’s office is a photo of Kyler Murray, holding out three fingers. The view beyond the glass gives way to Allen’s Eagle Stadium, a domain the Oklahoma quarterback ruled to perfection.
Three fingers for three state championships Murray won at Allen High School from 201214 alongside Sooner teammates Bobby Evans and Lee Morris.
With Murray at quarterback, Evans at left tackle and Morris catching passes, the three will play Saturday against Texas at the state fairgrounds in Dallas — just 28 miles south of their old high
school stomping grounds.
Allen, arguably the most dominant high school football program in Texas, has helped produce the fuel behind Oklahoma’s high-powered offense this season.
Murray is a Heisman front runner with his 17 touchdown passes and absurd 231 passer rating.
Morris has hauled in three of those touchdowns to go along with 172 receiving yards.
And Evans has been a mainstay on the offensive line, protecting Murray’s blindside.
“I think it’s pretty unusual to have three at one school,” said Steve Williams, Allen’s athletic director for the last 17 years.
He would know. Before serving as athletic director, Williams was assistant athletic director, basketball coach and assistant football coach. He was hired at the school 44 years ago.
Allen was a 2A school back then. Now it’s the largest high school in Texas with an enrollment north of 6,600 students. Allen’s $60 million football stadium seats 18,000. The marching band has more than 800 members.
“Anybody who tells you size doesn’t matter about being successful is wrong,” Williams said. “It’s better to be the largest school in your classification than the smallest.”
The city of Allen reached a population of 104,636 this year, according to the Allen Economic Development Corporation. It’s the 27th fastest-growing city in the nation, and its population has more than doubled since 2000.
Traveling north on U.S. Highway 75, only road signs and water towers make it distinguishable from the rest of the Dallas metroplex. Allen is a conglomeration of business parks, chain restaurants and hotels — not at all the place Ronald Rodenbaugh remembers growing up.
His father opened Rodenbaugh’s Flooring America Kitchen Bed & Bath in 1962. It’s the oldest business in Allen, right off Main Street in the original downtown. It’s one of the few places in town that maintains a 2A kind of feel. Or as Rodenbaugh described it: “Basically nothing.”
Rodenbaugh, 55, has lived in Allen his whole life.
“When my folks moved here in ‘60 there were about 450 people in town,” he said.
But as Allen grew from a small farming community to a booming Dallas suburb, one thing stayed the same. Allen remained a one-high school town — unlike McKinney to the north, Plano to the south and Frisco to the west, all cities which added high schools as their populations grew.
“We go to the football games at Allen — not East or West,” Rodenbaugh said. “The fact there is only one school has kept us tied together and united the town.”
Success has also united Allen. No one has been more responsible for it than Murray.
“Kyler is the best football player to ever come out of Texas,” Williams said.
It’s hardly a hot take. Murray went 42-0 as a three-year starter at Allen with three state championships. The winning streak — even after Murray, Evans and Morris graduated — extended to 57 games. It ended at the hands of Austin Westlake in the 2015 state semifinals.
The trophy case just past the entrance to Allen’s activity center is packed with gold footballs.
“I think people just hated us in general,” Evans said. “They didn’t understand the work ethic we put in to win a bunch of games and win a bunch of state titles. That stuff is hard, especially in Texas.”
Just around the corner from the trophies is a plaque listing Allen football MVPs. Three labels of the same name are stacked on top of each other: Kyler Murray 2012, 2013, 2014.
His isn’t the only recognizable name. Evans and his brother Tay, who also went to OU but had to give up football because of concussions, are listed for awards. So is Morris, a late bloomer who started his junior year on the JV team.
Allen has four graduates playing in the NFL: running back Jonathan Williams (Colts), offensive lineman Tejan Koroma (Chiefs), offensive lineman Cedric Ogbuehi (Bengals) and linebacker Christian Sam (Patriots).
Seventy-one Allen graduates have played college football since 2014 at schools like OU, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Stanford, Arizona State, Colorado, BYU, Texas Tech and Baylor.
Joining Murray, Evans and Morris at Oklahoma is walk-on receiver Andrew Magee. And more Allen prospects are on their way.
Allen seniors Theo Wease and EJ Ndoma-Ogar are committed in OU’s 2019 class. Wease is a five-star prospect ranked the third-best receiver in the class, according to the 247Sports composite.
Evans and Morris always wanted to go to Oklahoma. Evans’ dad, Bobby Joe, played basketball for the Sooners from 1995-98. Lee Morris Sr., who walked-on at OU like his son, earned a scholarship just before the Sooners’ 1985 national championship season.
The younger Morris was awarded a scholarship by coach Lincoln Riley after a breakout performance in the season opener against Florida Atlantic.
Murray was the wild card. OU wasn’t a strong contender in his recruitment. Murray grew up a Florida fan and his dad Kevin was a star quarterback at Texas A&M. He committed to Texas A&M, where he played in eight games making three starts as a true freshman.
Murray decided to
transfer after his freshman season, and after developing a good relationship with Riley, he chose Oklahoma.
After sitting behind Baker Mayfield last season, Murray is undefeated as OU’s starting quarterback, just like he was undefeated in high school.
The No. 7 Sooners are 5-0 heading into a showdown Saturday with Texas.
For the trio of former Allen stars turned Sooners, it’s practically a home game in a state they haven’t done much losing.
“We did a lot of special things together in high school, so for us to be on this stage now, playing with those guys, it’s very special to me,” Murray said. “I think we’ll look back in the years to come and realize we did something special together.”
The reminiscing didn’t last long.
“We’ve still got a job to do,” he said.