Before Kyler Murray would be drafted first overall to the Arizona Cardnials in the NFL
2019 Draft making him the first ever athlete to be a first round draft pick in both professional
football and baseball.
Before Kyler Murray would clock in over 500K followers on Instagram and over 160 plus K
on Twitter at the time of this recording...
Before he took home a 2014 / 2015 Gatoraid Football Player of the Year award and would
pick up the Heisman Trophy in 2018 playing with Oklahoma.
Just last year Kyler Murray had already secured the bag as the 9th pick in the 2018 MLB draft
going to the Oakland Athletics with a signing bonus of $4.6 Million dollars.
Most people would chalk that up as the ultimate W but Kyler had always been a man of two sports,
much like his old man who faced the same tough decision a few decades earlier.
Murray's high school career is one of the greatest in Texas football history and became
the first athlete ever to be selected for both the Under Armour All-America Baseball
and Football games.
But before he became the number one NFL draft pick he had some tough decisions to make...
and who can blame him.
I mean I've seen Moneyball.
What's going on guys?
It's your boy Michael McCrudden documenting the life and career of Kyler Murray prior
to fame, here for you of course on Before They Were Famous.
We had a couple hot drops during march madness with Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Tacko
Falls.
We have yet to Ja Morant so we will get working on that.
We need more suggestions from you guys in the comments down below, how about Nick Bosa?
Quinnen Williams? or Clelin Ferrel?
All 2019 Draft picks.
You guys let me know, but for now let's get into Kyler Murray.
Kyler Cole Murray was born on August 7th, 1997 in Bedford Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth.
If you know anything about Texas well they love themselves some football.
Pennington Field in Bedford Texas has 12,500 seats which is one quarter the size of the
town's population.
Kyler is a second-generation Korean American, with his grandmother being a South Korean
national, what does this mean?
Well dude probably likes some K Pop.
As with many of today's great sports super stars the story starts with Kyler's father
Kevin Murray who he himself was torn between a career in Baseball or Football.
He was selected in the 11th round of the 1982 MLB draft and ultimately faced the same difficult
decision as his son did, having to decide if he was going to pursue baseball or football.
Kevin’s baseball career was short-lived as he hit just .161 in 41 games with the Pikeville
Brewers, which were one of the team’s minor league affiliates.
Kevin decided to head to Texas A&M to play college football, we actually found some footage
but remember this was the 80's so the picture quality isn't great.
The music ain't so great either.
Once he made the switch, Kevin was a standout quarterback.
During his four seasons he threw for 6,506 uards and 48 touchdowns.
He declared his eligibility for the NFL but an ankle injury squashed this dream.
He went on to coach high school football while running his own football training business
specializing in quarter backs.
Obviously he played a major role in his son’s development on the field.
There was some success in the family with the MLB, his uncle Calvin Murray played professional
baseball for the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.
As for Kylers mom Missy, In an Instagram post he stated:
To the two strongest women in my life, I love ya!
Happy
She had this to say about her sons strange obsession when he was just a toddler.
“This is a kid that when he was 5 and 6, his toys in his room were color-coordinated.
All his Power Rangers, all the red ones were together, all the white ones were together.
That was me, so he grew up learning that.”
There was actually a third sport young Kyler dabbled in during his youth which was Basketball
playing from 7 to 10 for the Brewer's Texas Tar Heels.
His old Basketbal coach recalls that even at the age of 7 the kid hated to lose, makes
sense cause the kid's horoscope is that of Leo just like Tom Brady.
I'm just putting that out there.
Kyler attended Allen High School in Allen, Texas where he played both Baseball and Football.
On the diamond he played shortstop and as a second baseman.
He was the first player to ever be selected for both the Under Armour All-America Baseball
Game and Under Armour All-America Football Game.
It was as a football player he led the team to three straight state championships as quarter
back.
Kyler finished his high school career with a perfect 42-0 record as a starting quarterback
helping Allen build a 43-game winning streak that is No. 6 all-time in state history.
He finished his career with 10,388 yards passing and 117 passing touchdowns, both Top 10 in
Texas high school history.
He led his team in rushing for two seasons as well, finishing his career with 4,093 yards
and 69 scores on the ground.
He cemented his status as the best amateur football player in state history and for his
hard work.
He earned himself the title of 2014 Gatoraid Football Player of the year in his senior
year, posting about this honour on Instagram he stated:
https://www.instagram.com/p/5JNau9tI9L/ This is an incredible honor and truly an amazing
night, one that I will never forget!
Thank you Gatorade and all those who contributed to this unbelievable moment for me.
In May 2014, he committed to Texas A&M University to play college football where he won the
starting quarterback position while continuing to play college baseball.
In his first start, Kyler threw for 223 yards and rushed for 156 yards with a passing touchdown
and a rushing touchdown, making him and Cam Newton the only Southeastern Conference quarterbacks
in the past 20 years to gain over 100 yards passing and rushing, including a passing touchdown
and a rushing touchdown in their first career start.
On December 24, 2015, Murray announced that he was transferring to the University of Oklahoma.
Per NCAA transfer rules, he had to miss the 2016 season.
Murray played for the Oklahoma Sooners baseball team in 2017 as a left fielder.
He had a .122 batting average and six runs batted in RBIs in 27 games.
In 2018, playing as a centerfielder, Murray batted .296 with 10 home runs, 47 RBIs, and
10 stolen bases.
Over at the University of Oklahoma Kyler worked his way up to becoming the starting quarterback.
He threw for more than 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns in the 2018 regular season.
In December 2018, Murray was awarded the Heisman Trophy as the best collegiate football player
in the country and took his team to the 2019 Orange Bowl.
Kyler was a complete animal travelling with both teams playing both sports.
Despite his intentions to play professional football the MLB expressed their interest
with the Oakland Athletics selecting Murray with the ninth overall selection of the 2018
MLB draft.
Aright, I won't use that clip again.
He signed a contract with the Athletics which includes a $4.66 million signing bonus.
At the time of his deal with the Oakland Athletics he stated to the press:
“I feel like I could play in the N.F.L., but as far as giving it up, as of now, yeah,
that’s the plan.”
The plan was for him to report to spring training in 2019 to begin his professional baseball
career.
However, following his Heisman Trophy-winning 2018 season, he would forgo baseball career
and enter the NFL Draft.
In Feb of 2019 he had made his decision and announced via Twitter “Moving forward, I
am firmly and fully committing my life and time to becoming an NFL quarterback.
“Football has been my love and passion my entire life.
I was raised to play QB, and I very much look forward to dedicating 100% of myself to being
the best QB possible and winning NFL championships.
I have started an extensive training program to further prepare myself for upcoming NFL
workouts and interviews.
I eagerly await the opportunity to continue to prove to NFL decision makers that I am
the franchise QB in this draft."
Kyler’s decision was worth millions of dollars.
He’ll have to return $1.29 million of the $1.5 million signing bonus Oakland gave him,
and he’ll have to pass on the $3.16 million the team was to pay him on March 1.
There was a lot to gamble but just so long as he was drafted in the first round he was
pretty much guaranteed to make a lot more millions... his four year contact with Arizona
is expected to earn him $34.9 million, including a $23.4 million signing bonus.