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College football 2018: Top 30 breakout players to watch

By Jeremy Morris

Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images /
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MANHATTAN, KS – OCTOBER 21:Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray (1) before the snap in the third quarter of a Big 12 game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Kansas State Wildcats on October 21, 2017 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, KS. Oklahoma won 42-35. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MANHATTAN, KS – OCTOBER 21:Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray (1) before the snap in the third quarter of a Big 12 game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Kansas State Wildcats on October 21, 2017 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, KS. Oklahoma won 42-35. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The shoes left to fill after a three-year starter and Heisman winner in Baker Mayfield are not small ones. Kyler Murray, although just a junior has only one season, one shot at trying. He was taken ninth overall in the most recent MLB Draft and will be joining the Oakland A’s next spring to start his pro baseball career. So OU has a baseball player who also plays football at quarterback this year? Not quite.

Murray started his career at Texas Tech and played as a freshman under Kevin Sumlin before electing to transfer to Oklahoma, primarily for football. He was a great high school baseball player obviously but he was also a two-time Mr. Football winner in Texas, Gatorade National Player of the Year and USA Today High School Player of the Year as a senior.

As a senior in 2014, he threw for 4,713 yards and 54 touchdowns and only eight interceptions while also running for 1,495 yards and 25 touchdowns. Oh, and as a three-year starter at Allen High School, his team won three state titles and 43 straight games. Murray did miss one game though so he left with a 42-0 record as a starter.

Yes, that was four years ago. Yes, it was just high school. But the high school football competition in Texas isn’t anything to scoff at. And you don’t put up those numbers, those stats, and get that kind of national recognition unless you’re really good.

Murray just signed a $4.6 million deal to play professional baseball but decided to put that on hold and risk injury to suit up for Oklahoma. The Oakland A’s, who aren’t dumb (Michael Lewis wrote about their guys who run their team called Moneyball). They knew Murray planned on playing football this year and still picked him in the top-10out of thousands of high school and college baseball players.

Kyler Murray runs a 4.4 40-yard dash, has a major league arm (literally), has proven he knows how to win and he’s risking a lot personally and professionally playing this season. If you think he’s just a baseball player biding his time, that’s not the case at all. Murray is serious and will make Oklahoma a serious contender again in 2018.