Will he go or will he stay? That’s the question on everybody’s mind in Norman as Kyler Murray faces a difficult decision: baseball or football?
Murray, a former five-star recruit who transferred to the school after a brief outing at Texas A&M, is considered the heir apparent to Heisman winner Baker Mayfield as the Sooners quarterback of the future. He’s also a five-tool baseball player who MLB Pipeline ranks as the No. 36 prospect in the upcoming draft and has been splitting his time at OU between the gridiron and the diamond.
Despite the potential to cash in on millions as a pro baseball player, it seems Oklahoma’s young coach isn’t worried about the decision facing Murray in the coming weeks and fully expects him to be ready come fall camp to lead the team onto the field.
“I don’t really care a whole lot about what happens in the draft,” head coach Lincoln Riley said according to SoonerScoop.com. “I’ve had good conversations with Kyler, his family and I fully expect him to be with us. I really don’t have any worries about it.
“Everybody else has been a lot more worried about it than me. I haven’t lost one night of sleep on it, so I apologize if anyone else has. I mean, I knew the deal getting into it. When he first decided to leave A&M we had very candid conversations with him and his family about it. They have lived up to their word — every part of it. I have no doubt they’ll continue to do so and I think they’d say the same about us.”
Sophomore Austin Kendall has also made a strong push for the starting quarterback job and would clearly be the guy if his teammate were to leave given the team would have just one other scholarship signal-caller on the roster this fall. Murray threw for 359 yards and three scores while rushing for over 10 yards a carry last season as Mayfield’s primary backup -- actually starting a game (for a single snap) against West Virginia. He is also hitting .296 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI for the Sooners on the diamond this spring.
Interestingly MLB.com notes that Murray will be repped by super agent Scott Boras on the baseball side so read into that what you will. It certainly seems that Riley isn’t doing any of that and seemingly quite comfortable knowing his talented junior will be taking snaps and not swings later this year.