Kyler Murray chooses football days before he was to report to A’s spring training
Kyler Murray is giving baseball the Heisman stiff arm.
The two-sport Oklahoma Sooners star tweeted Monday that he is “fully committing my life and time to becoming an NFL quarterback,” four days before he was scheduled to report to spring training with the Oakland Athletics.
Murray, who won the Heisman Trophy as Oklahoma’s quarterback, was also an outfielder selected ninth overall by the A’s in June’s draft. He had agreed to a minor-league contract that included a $4.66-million signing bonus.
In a statement posted on Twitter, he didn’t mention baseball.
“Moving forward, I am firmly and fully committing my life and time to becoming an NFL quarterback,” he wrote. “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.”
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Murray threw for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns last fall, beating fellow quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama and Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State for the Heisman.
“He’s an incredible athlete with great run skills for the position,” an NFL team personnel director told The Times on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He’s got better accuracy than expected and rare playmaking ability. He’s very good throwing on the move. But he’s thin-framed, and the question is, can he sustain the hits in the NFL?”
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