Kyler Murray not finished collecting collegiate hardware

Kyler Murray’s celebrated college career is now behind him, but the accolades from a spectacular sports year are still catching up.

On Thursday, the former Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner was named the 2018-19 Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year.

In a couple of weeks, Murray, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft will be in preseason training camp for the Arizona Cardinals.

Murray joins an impressive list of Oklahoma athletes who have received Big 12 Athlete of the Year recognition over the last couple of decades. Since 2000, 11 different Sooners have be so honored, including six in the past five years.

In two of the last three years, OU swept the Athlete of the Year awards in the conference, winning both the male and female categories. Baker Mayfield and gymnast Maggie Nichols won the award a year ago, and Buddy Hield in basketball and softball pitcher Paige Parker were the winners in 2015-16.

There were some college football experts around this time a year ago who were wondering how Murray would follow in the footsteps of perhaps the greatest quarterback performance in Sooner history. It didn’t take long for the dual-sport star to answer all those concerns and by year’s end add some record-setting numbers of his own.

Murray led the Sooners to a 12-2 season, a fourth consecutive Big 12 title and a third appearance in the College Football Playoff in the last four years.

The former Texas A&M transfer and National Gatorade Player of the Year while in high school in Allen., Texas, completed 69 percent of his passes last season (260 of 377), his one season as the OU starting quarterback, for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns. That is what he accomplished through the airways, but he also ran for 1,001 yards and 12 additional touchdowns.

The 54 total touchdowns Murray accounted for in 2018 is the second most in school history.

Murray is only the second player in college football history to pass for 4,000 or more yards in a season and gain at least 1,000 rushing yards as well. He led the nation last season in total yards (5,362) points responsible for (324), yards per pass attempt (a Football Bowl Subdivision record 11.6) and yards per completion (16.8). His 5,362 total yards were more than 77 of the 129 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

In June of 2017, Murray was selected No. 9 overall by the Oakland Athletics in the Major League Baseball Draft.

Each Big 12 institution nominated one male and one female athlete for consideration as the top athlete in each category. The final selection, made by a panel of media representatives as well as a fan vote, was based on athletic performance, academic achievement and citizenship.

Ashtin Zamrow, a track and field star at Texas was voted the Female Athlete of the Year in the Big 12.