Murray is AP Player of the Year

Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray won The Associated Press college football Player of the Year on Dec. 6, becoming the second straight Sooners quarterback and fifth overall to win the award since it was established in 1998.

Murray beat out Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on 56 ballots submitted by AP college football poll voters and announced Dec. 6. Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. was third.

“It’s humbling and an honor to be named AP Player of the Year, to be mentioned in the same realm as a lot of great players, a lot of hall of famers,” Murray said. “It’s a special deal for me and hopefully I can continue to make my family and teammates proud.”

Murray received 39 first-place votes and a total of 145 points. Tagovailoa received 13 first-place votes (117 points) and Haskins was listed first on four ballots (55 points).

Murray added the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s top quarterback Thursday night at ESPN’s College Football Award Show at the Hall of Fame in Atlanta. Tagovailoa won two player of the year awards, taking the Walter Camp and Maxwell awards.

Murray and Tagovailoa will now head to New York City as Heisman trophy finalists, with the winner more uncertain than usual. Haskins also is a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, which will be presented Dec. 8 in New York.

The last five Walter Camp winners won the Heisman Trophy and the last four Maxwell winners have won the Heisman. Only twice since 2002 has the AP Player of the Year not won the Heisman, Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh in 2009 and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey in 2015.