Oklahoma Football: Did Sooners Get the Better of the Two Texas A&M QBs?
By Chip Rouse
A future new signal-caller with plenty of promise will shortly arrive on the scene for Oklahoma football as part of a quarterback swap with Texas A&M.
Kyler Murray, a former five-star recruit who was voted the Gatorade National Player of the Year his senior year in high school in Allen, Texas, announced on Christmas Eve that he was transferring to Oklahoma. Within days of Murray’s decision to transfer, another Texas A&M quarterback who started games for the Aggies this past season announced he was transferring as well.
Kyle Allen started nine of 11 games for the Aggies in 2015 as a sophomore. Allen is headed to the University of Houston, although acknowledged that he also had considered Oklahoma before Murray elected to go north to Norman to continue his college career. Allen threw for 2,210 yards and 17 touchdowns last season for the Aggies.
Murray started three games and played in eight for Texas A&M as a freshman. Considered more of a dual-threat quarterback than Allen, Murray passed for 686 yards and ran for 335 more, averaging over six yards per rush.
Murray and Allen are the second and third quarterbacks to bolt the program in two seasons. Kenny Hill, who started quite a few games for A&M in 2014, left the program after his sophomore season a year ago. All of this make you wonder what is going on in former OU assistant Kevin Sumlin’s program at Texas A&M to cause all of these defections.
Despite the loss of three quarterbacks in two seasons, the Aggies are picking up a quarterback with the transfer of former OU starter Trevor Knight. Because he has finished his undergraduate degree at Oklahoma, Knight will be eligible to play next season, but he has only a year left of college eligibility. Knight, best known for leading the Sooners to a surprising 45-31 win over Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl, started nine games for Oklahoma in 2014, but was used solely in a backup role behind starter Baker Mayfield this past season.
With both Murray and Allen looking at Oklahoma as a potential landing spot after their time at Texas A&M, the question is: Did the Sooners or Houston land the better of the two QB transfers.
Both former Texas A&M signal callers were highly recruited out of high school, but their styles of play are very different. Allen, who stands 6-3, is more of a pocket passer, while Murray, listed at 5-11, 185 pounds, presents a dual threat in his ability to both run and throw the football.
Murray won back-to-back state championships at Allen (Texas) High School and put up video-game-like numbers in the process, both running and throwing the football. Reportedly, there were trust and personality issues between him and head coach Sumlin in his short time at Texas A&M. Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops does not believe the issues at A&M will be a problem for Murray at OU.
Murray will sit out the 2016 season because of the NCAA transfer rule, but that will give him an opportunity to get comfortable with his new college home, the OU system and coaches and learn under starter Mayfield, who will return for his senior year in 2016.
Having seen what dual-threat quarterbacks have been able to do against the Oklahoma defensive in recent seasons – the most recent of which was Deshaun Watson of Clemson – it is exciting to contemplate the impact that someone with a high proficiency of those skills could have in offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley’s Air Raid offense.
The Sooners have done very well with pure pocket passers in the past (Jason White, Sam Bradford and Landry Jones), but having someone as a dual threat like Murray opens up all kinds of offensive possibilities that are limited by a immobile quarterback.
Spring football will give us our first glimpse at what the possibilities will be with someone like Kyler Murray at quarterback. I don’t think there is any question that the Sooners drew the long straw on this one.