Having perhaps the greatest high school career of any Texas high school football player ever, our Texas High School Football Legend Spotlight is on Kyler Murray.
If you were writing a movie script for the greatest high school quarterbacks of all-time, it would probably be an unrealistic script with a guy who goes undefeated and wins a few state championships in the best football state in the country and wins the national player of the year. That happened. That was Kyler Murray.
Long before he was making his claim as a top NFL quarterback with his “Hail Murray” pass to DeAndre Hopkins, Kyler was working his magic in the gridiron in Texas. Born in Bedford, Murray attended Allen High School. As a sophomore, already being an all-state baseball player, Murray became the starting QB.
Allen went 42-0 as the starting QB for Allen. He missed one game, which his team also won. He led the Eagles to three-straight UIL State Championships, He was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year as a senior. As a senior, he threw for 4,713 yards, ran for 1,495, and had 79 total touchdowns.
High School Stats:
| Year | Team | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2012 | Allen | 153 | 249 | 61.4 | 2,040 | 17 | 5 | 188 | 1,370 | 7.3 | 25 |
| 2013 | Allen | 207 | 325 | 63.7 | 3,669 | 46 | 9 | 151 | 1,274 | 8.4 | 19 |
| 2014 | Allen | 278 | 433 | 64.2 | 4,713 | 54 | 8 | 151 | 1,495 | 9.9 | 25 |
| Total | 638 | 1,007 | 63.4% | 10,386 | 117 | 22 | 490 | 4,139 | 8.4 | 69 | |
Though a dominant high school player, Murray struggled to find his place in college. He signed to play both baseball and football with the Texas A&M Aggies. He competed with Kyle Allen for the starting QB job, with Allen getting the job. He did get a few starts late in the season, and became the second player, alongside Cam Newton, to throw for over 200 yards and rush for over 100 yards in his first start. However, it did not look like Murray was going to be the starter his sophomore year, so he transferred to Oklahoma.
Murray had to sit out the 2016 college season, due to NCAA protocols on transferring. He then sat behind Baker Mayfield the next season. He kept excelling at baseball, and it was looking like his future would be in the Major Leagues, but that changed in 2018.
Murray got the starting job for Oklahoma for the 2018 season, beating out Austin Kendall for the job. Kyler threw for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns. He ran for 1,001 yards and another 12 touchdowns. He led the Sooners to a Big 12 Championship and a College Football Playoff appearance, where they lost to Alabama. He also won the Heisman Trophy.
Murray became the number one overall pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Early in the draft process, he was not expected to be the top pick, and some questioned if he would go ib the first round. But, teams fell in-love with Murray. When Kliff Kingsbury got the Head Coach job for the Cardinals, Murray was assured of being the #1 pick.
Kyler made Kiff and the Cardinals look good, winning Rookie of the Year last year. As a rookie, he threw for 3,722 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also ran for 544 yards and 4 touchdowns. This year, he has the Cardinals in playoff contention, and Murry looks like he will be on his way to his first Pro Bowl. He has already surpassed his rushing totals from last year in just 10 games, rushing for over 600 yards and 10 touchdowns, on his way to possible running for over 1,000 yards. He is also on pace to throw for over 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns.
