Oklahoma football: Will baseball trump football for Kyler Murray?

Redshirt junior Kyler Murray, the early leader in the clubhouse in the competition to become the next Oklahoma football starting quarterback. is having an outstanding OU baseball season.

The two-sport, student-athlete is the starting center fielder on the Oklahoma baseball team, and his talents on the baseball diamond have impressed Major League Baseball scouts and team officials.

Murray’s professional future is probably going to be in baseball, but he still has two years of eligibility remaining in college football. In a little less than three weeks, he is going to be faced with a major decision affecting his future.

Football or baseball? Or perhaps both?

Murray was an accomplished two-sport athlete coming out of high school in Allen, Texas. According to Ryan Aber, the OU beat writer for the Oklahoma City Oklahoman, Murray is the only player to play in both the Under Armour All-America football and baseball games.

He began his collegiate career as a freshman at Texas A&M. Murray was projected as an early-round major league draft prospect out of high school, but he opted out of the 2015 MLB Draft, choosing instead to play football at A&M. He played in eight games at quarterback for the Aggies in the 2015 season and started in three.

After one semester at Texas A&M, Murray asked for his release and elected to transfer to Oklahoma, with the primary goal of playing football but also baseball. He sat out the 2016 football season because of eligibility rules governing transfers.

Murray joined the Sooner baseball team and played the 2017 season. Regaining his eligibility, as a redshirt sophomore, to play Division I football, Murray served as the backup to Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield last fall, and is expected to take over for Mayfield in the 2018 season.

That is, if he doesn’t decide to forgo football for a professional baseball career.

Murray’s contribution on the baseball diamond is up considerably over where it was a year ago. He is batting .295 this season (that’s up from .122 in 2017), and he is second on the team in home runs (9), runs batted in (44) and slugging percentage (.545).

"“From a scout’s perspective, when you look at Kyler Murray, you see potential — and a ton of it,” says 247Sports college baseball analyst Kyle Peterson, who believes Murray is among the most exciting prospects in the sport right now."

Murray is No. 36 in ESPN baseball analyst Keith Law’s latest ranking of the top 50 Major League Baseball draft prospects, reported by the Oklahoma City Oklahoman.. Multiple baseball analysts are projecting Murray to be selected in the first or second round of the MLB Draft.

As a first-round draft pick, Murray could get close to $2 million dollars to sign with a major league team. That certainly would be a strong incentive to take the plunge down the rabbit hole and turn pro in baseball.

Murray could play baseball at the professional level and not lose his college eligibility to play football for Oklahoma in the fall. There is a precedent for it, and a successful one at that.

Former Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon played rookie league ball in 2007 and returned to the football field in the fall, where he passed for 2,136 yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior, Ryan Aber OU beat writer for the Oklahoma City Oklahoman reminds us.

Murray says he’s not worrying about the MLB Draft right now. At least publically, head coach Lincoln Riley has said that he and Murray have had discussions about baseball and the draft and that his is “comfortable about where we’re at with it.”

It’s hard to believe that Riley is comfortable with not knowing how all of this is going to play out.

Some have speculated that Murray could be drafted high, sign a professional contract but not report for training until after the first of the year. Under that scenario, he could focus exclusively on football and play quarterback at Oklahoma for at least one more year.

Whether or not Murray will complete his football eligibility at OU is very much up in the air right now. You’ve got to believe that causes some consternation for Riley and his staff, not to mention Sooner fans.

College football is big business nationally, and it is a really big deal at Oklahoma — the mother ship of all athletic programs. Although it is physically possible to play two different sports, the risk of injury is increased and, regardless of what anyone says, it is extremely difficult to perform at your very best in two sports.

We’re looking at this purely from a college football perspective, but I’m sure whichever major league franchise invests in Murray’s baseball future isn’t going to embrace the notion of one of their future prospects putting himself in harms way on the football field in the fall.

No two ways about it, playing quarterback at a big-time program like Oklahoma is a privilege and pretty much a full-time job that extends beyond the five-month football season.

Kyler Murray may be a gifted athlete, but it is doubtful he is going to be able to give his all to both baseball and football.

The ultimate beneficiary of all of this might just be redshirt sophomore Austin Kendall, who is battling Murray for the starting quarterback job next season.