MURRAY’S THE (HEIS)MAN Star Oklahoma QB edges Alabama QB Tagovailoa, but offensive tweets arise
NEW YORK — Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray replaced a Heisman Trophy winner by becoming a Heisman winner.
Murray won the most prestigious individual award in college football Saturday, slipping past Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and setting up a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup of Heisman winner versus runner-up.
The fourth-ranked Sooners will play the top-ranked Crimson Tide on Dec. 29 in the Orange Bowl in the seventh bowl matchup between the Heisman winner and runner-up and the first since runner-up Vince Young and Texas beat winner Reggie Bush and USC in the Rose Bowl in 2006. (Bush’s award later was vacated.)
This season, Murray stepped into the starting job at Oklahoma that last year was held by Heisman winner Baker Mayfield, who went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft in April. Oklahoma is the first school to have Heisman-winning quarterbacks in consecutive seasons and the fifth to have winners in back-to-back years.
‘‘This is crazy,’’ Murray said in his acceptance speech. ‘‘This is an honor, something that I’ll never forget, something that I’ll always cherish for the rest of my life.’’
But the night was tarnished by the resurfacing of several homophobic tweets that were more than six years old. When Murray was 15, he tweeted at his friends via his since-verified Twitter account, using an antigay slur to defame them. As of late Saturday, four offensive tweets using the slur had not been deleted.
Murray, 21, joins several other famous athletes thrust into a negative spotlight after old tweets resurfaced in the midst of big accomplishments, including Brewers pitcher Josh Hader, Bills quarterback Josh Allen and former Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo.
Unlike most seasons, the Heisman winner was far from a foregone conclusion. But Murray (517 first-place votes, 2,167 points) ended up with a fairly comfortable margin of 296 points over Tagovailoa (299 first-place votes, 1,871 points). Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins was a distant third with 46 first-place votes and 783 points.
Addressing Sooners coach Lincoln Riley in his speech, Murray said: ‘‘You pushed me Player
Kyler Murray, Oklahoma Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State Will Grier, West Virginia Gardner Minshew, Wash. State McKenzie Milton, UCF Travis Etienne, Clemson Quinnen Williams, Alabama Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin Darrell Henderson, Memphis
harder than any coach ever has, and I just want to say thank you for believing in me and allowing me to be the quarterback of this team, the leader of this team.’’ 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Murray was named on 92 percent of the Heisman ballots, the third most of all time. Tagovailoa’s 1,871 points were the most for a runner-up in the 84-year history of the award.
Murray’s first season as a starting quarterback in college — he was a backup at Texas A&M before transferring to Oklahoma — also is set up to be his last. He already has signed a $4.66 million guaranteed contract with the Athletics, who picked him in the first round of the MLB Draft in June.
‘‘I’d like to do both [baseball and football], if possible,’’ Murray said Friday. ‘‘But I don’t know how possible that is.’’
Draft analyst Dane Brugler of The Athletic called Murray a potential top-50 pick in the NFL Draft next spring.
‘‘The NFL hasn’t had a 5-10 or shorter quarterback have sustained success in a long time, but Murray has a rare skill set with his arm talent, mobility and instincts,’’ Brugler said.