Kyler Murray has been named the country’s top college football player in what could be his final season playing the sport.
Murray, who threw for over 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns for Oklahoma this year, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night in New York over fellow quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama and Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State.
Although Murray has another season of eligibility remaining and is also considered a potential first-round pick in the NFL draft, he has said he is prepared to give up football to focus on baseball, after the Oakland Athletics selected him ninth overall in this year’s MLB draft.
“This is crazy,” Murray said in accepting the award. “This is an honor. Something that I’ll never forget, something I’ll always cherish for the rest of my life.”
Murray follows in the footsteps of Baker Mayfield, who won the Heisman while with the Sooners last year. It is the first time since 1945-46 that two different players from the same school won the award in back-to-back years (not counting Reggie Bush’s vacated Heisman for USC in 2005, which followed his teammate Matt Leinart).
Oklahoma’s seventh Heisman pulls it into a tie with Notre Dame and Ohio State for the most by any school.
In addition to his passing stats, Murray also ran for 892 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 51 touchdowns responsible for equaled Haskins for the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
As No. 4 Oklahoma prepares to face Tagovailoa’s Alabama in the College Football Playoff in three weeks, Murray is on pace to become the first FBS starting quarterback to average at least 300 passing yards and 60 rushing yards per game.
Murray, who started his college career at Texas A&M, joins Mayfield and Army’s Doc Blanchard in 1945 as the only players to win the Heisman after transferring directly from one major college program to another.
If Murray does pursue baseball as planned, he could become only the third player to win the Heisman and play in the majors, after Bo Jackson and Vic Janowicz.