Enjoy Kyler Murray while you can, Sooner Nation.
After being selected surprisingly high in the opening rounds of the Major League Baseball draft this past Monday night — he was taken ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics — there was some question as to whether the presumptive front-runner to replace Baker Mayfield at quarterback for Oklahoma would take the stick-and-ball money and run. Later that Monday 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.
Wednesday night, it was reported that Murray had reached an agreement on a contract with the A’s that will not only pay him in the neighborhood of $5 million but will also allow him to play football at OU in 2018. However, the deal will reportedly only allow this one season of football before Murray will be required to turn his full attention to baseball.
Kyler Murray and the A's have a deal that guarantees him close to $5M and allows him to play football (he's a QB and could be Baker Mayfield's replacement) at Oklahoma for 1 year.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 6, 2018
Murray would have one more year of football eligibility beyond this season that he could potentially use, although it appears the baseball deal will preclude him from taking advantage of it.
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. He added 142 yards on the ground for good measure.
