College Football 2018: Biggest question facing every Top 25 team in spring practice

How good can Kyler Murray be?

It’s not hyperbole to say Baker Mayfield was one of the best quarterbacks in college football history. Also, it’s never easy to replace a campus legend. However, Oklahoma is well positioned with Kyler Murray.

Murray, a former five-star Texas A&M signee and hotshot baseball prospect, was Mayfield’s backup last season and excelled in limited opportunities. Though he lacks size for the position (at 5-foot-10 and 192 pounds Murray is smaller than the not-so-prototypical Mayfield), Murray is a true playmaker. He completed 85.7 percent of his pass attempts for 359 yards and three touchdowns without throwing a pick last year, and dashed for 142 rushing yards on just 14 carries as well – including a 66-yarder that set up the opening touchdown of the regular season finale against West Virginia – Murray’s first start for the Sooners.

Adding in his stats with the Aggies, with whom he won the starting job in 2015 as a true freshman before opting to transfer later that season, Murray has 1,045 career passing yards and eight touchdowns. Though he was picked off seven times at A&M, Murray has shown improved decision-making at Oklahoma, albeit largely in relief appearances against weak opposition.

Nevertheless, Murray could be special. Take a look at his high school highlight reels to see all the ways he can victimize a defense, and look through last year’s tapes to see how well Lincoln Riley orchestrated the Sooners’ offense. Even without Mayfield available to pull the strings, Riley and Murray are capable of distributing the ball to playmakers like Rodney Anderson, Marquise Brown and CeeDee Lamb, and altogether the unit should put up enough points to make it back to the Big 12 Championship Game, and potentially the College Football Playoff.