Not surprisingly, Oklahoma will get just one season’s worth of Kyler Murray as their (projected) starting quarterback.
After Murray was selected surprisingly high in the opening rounds of the Major League Baseball draft earlier this month — he was taken ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics — there was some question as to whether the presumptive front-runner to replace Baker Mayfield under center for Oklahoma would immediately take the stick-and-ball money and run. Later that draft night, Murray was very emphatic that he “will be playing football this season.” A day later, his head coach reiterated that the quarterback would play football for the Sooners in 2018.
A couple of days later, Murray agreed to terms with the A’s, although the contract reportedly contained language that would allow him to play college football for just one more season. Later this week, the baseball club will officially confirm such language is part of the deal that will pay Murray in the neighborhood of $5 million.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:Murray, the A’s top pick in last week’s draft, officially will sign with the team on Friday and will be introduced at the Coliseum the same day, multiple sources told The Chronicle.
As part of the agreement, Murray will play just one more year of football at Oklahoma, one source said. Murray... will report to the A’s complex in Mesa, Ariz., next spring to begin his fulltime baseball career.
Murray has another season of college football eligibility that he could use beyond this year, although he’s obviously decided that he’ll be one-and-done as the Sooners’ starting quarterback.
A four-star member of Texas A&M’s 2015 recruiting class, Murray was rated as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the country on 247Sports.com‘s composite board. In December of 2015, Murray opted to transfer from the Aggies to the Sooners.
After sitting out the 2016 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules, Murray served as the primary backup to the Heisman Trophy-winning Mayfield. In mostly mop-up duty — he did start one game because of Mayfield’s one-series suspension — Murray completed 18-of-21 passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns this past season for the Sooners. He added 142 yards on the ground for good measure.