At the young age of 22, Kevin Murray was told that if he kept playing football, he wouldn’t be able to walk by the time he was 50.
He had just completed his redshirt junior year at Texas A&M, and was declaring for the draft. He went undrafted after sustaining what was perceived as an career-ending ankle injury while playing for the Aggies. For context, Kevin Murray was no average joe out of college. This was a guy who lead Texas A&M to two straight Cotton Bowls, a guy who was named 2nd Team All-American twice, a guy who beat Bo Jackson’s Auburn Tigers in a bowl game. At that point in time, 1986, he was the winningest Aggie quarterback in history, with a record of 25-6-1.
After going undrafted, Murray signed with the 49ers. You know, the iteration of the 49ers with Bill Walsh as the head coach, Joe Montana as the starting quarterback, and Steve Young waiting in the wings. All of this, combined with a bad ankle, led Murray to Canada, where he played with the Calgary Stampeders. He quickly retired and walked away from the game.
After his retirement, he headed into corporate America, but the allure of football never left. He worked with several kids pro bono (including his son, All American Kyler Murray) and was very quickly finding himself desiring a return to the gridiron. According to Murray, one day he just got up and told his wife that he was done with the desk job, he was going to turn his side work into a full-time gig.
Murray worked in HR for sixteen years, and he takes that philosophy with him when he coaches quarterbacks. He always works one-on-one, never in groups, because he sees a value in the personal connection with kids, as well as a laserlike focus on the details. Being Kevin Murray, he had tons of contacts in the high school football world, so he reached out to some coaches, and a few of them sent their kids his way. He also had some contacts with Nike and Football America, and they sent him some equipment to help him get started.
Fast forward about ten or fifteen years, and Murray seems to be working with everyone. He’s working with Chance Amie, the Tyler Lee quarterback who’s looking to lead the Raiders back to playoff glory. He’s working with Tanner Mordecai, the gunslinger from Waco Midway who might have an outside shot at a title run. He’s also working with Highland Park’s young Gun-Slinger, Chandler Morris (Son of Smu’s Head Coach, Chad Morris), who has aspirations of returning Highland Park to another State Championship. He’s worked with Seth Russell, who quarterbacked the Baylor Bears for the past few years. He’s worked with David Blough and Richard LaGow, who are having successes in the Big Ten.
Murray thinks that the biggest names in his camps aren’t the only ones that will end up playing D-1 football. If you talk to him about his prospects, he’ll ride hard for guys like Jason Bean of Lake Ridge, Colby Suits of North Forney, Preston Weeks of Rowlett and Cade Fennegan of Woodrow Wilson as well. If you’re a quarterback and you’re looking for a guy who can help you take your game to the next level, look no further than Kevin Murray.
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I love that he says he always works one on one as opposed to in groups to get that personal connection going. Kudos to Murray for taking the leap out of corporate America to do something he loves!