Sooners’ Kyler Murray After Winning Heisman: “I Trusted The Process”

The Oklahoma Sooners’ Kyler Murray received a huge honor last night by winning the Heisman trophy.

He was elected to be this year’s winner in front of Alabama Crimson Tide’s Tua Tagovailoa, in one very interesting ballot. He had 2,167 votes, Tagovailoa 1,781, and Dwayne Haskins Jr. of Ohio State 783.

Tagovailoa’s result was the highest ever for a runner-up, and that just shows how good these players are.

“This is crazy. This is an honor. Something that I’ll never forget, something I’ll always treasure for the rest of my life,” Murray said on the ceremony.

The moment Kyler Murray's Heisman dream came true.#HeismanU | #KylerKnews | #BoomerSoonerpic.twitter.com/uOoecoyrXr

— 𝕺𝖐𝖑𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖒𝖆 𝖛𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 (@soonergridiron) December 9, 2018

He led his Oklahoma to a 12-1 record and a Big 12 Championship. But that could be just a part of a bigger achievement. His Sooners are facing Alabama in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29. If they win, the championship game is theirs.

That will also be a direct encounter between him and Tagovailoa, the winner and the runner-up in the Heisman race. Since 2006, we haven’t seen such a thing.

Murray replaced Baker Mayfield, the first overall pick in 2018 NFL Draft, one year later than he was supposed to. When he came from Texas A&M in 2016, he sat out the whole year because of the transfer rules. Mayfield was planned to jump to the NFL, and leave his spot to Murray.

Still, the last year’s Heisman winner stayed for one more season, which meant another year of waiting for a 5-foot-10 quarterback from Allen, Texas, who didn’t lose his patience.

“As hard as it may seem, which it was definitely difficult at times when I wasn’t playing, and I wanted to be out there, I just trusted the process,” Murray said. “It was easy to sit behind Bake because obviously he was so deserving of what he was doing.”

“So for me, it was easy. Just getting to learn behind him.”

And he did learn everything. Just minutes after he had been announced as the winner of the most prestigious award in college football, his former teammate congratulated him and told that whichever path he chooses, he only needs to follow his dreams.

“AND THATS WHAT WE CALL BACK TO BACK. YOU DESERVE IT K1, So proud of you man. Enjoy every second of it. Absolutely nobody can put a ceiling on you…. Football or baseball, follow your dreams brotha.”
Mayfield wrote on his Instagram account.

With one game more to play, this year’s trophy winner already created better stats than the previous one. Mayfield had 353 yards of offense per match and 49 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Murray averages 380 yards and has 51 TD’s.

2018 HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER:

KYLER MURRAY 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xaiyLiSiud

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 9, 2018

Though, his dreams are still not clear enough. Murray is already a big hope of Oakland Athletics who picked him 9th overall in the last draft. They already signed a contract worth $4.6 million.

Following a ceremony, the player was under a barrage of questions, and one of them was about his plans for the upcoming NFL draft. When asked about his future in football, and intentions to jump to the professionals, Murray stated that it is not in his “focus” at the moment.

“As of right now, everybody knows I’m playing [baseball],” Murray said, speaking to reporters after the award ceremony. “I’m not really focusing on it right now.”

However, he didn’t declare this as his final decision, so there is still some space for some changes. If he sticks to that choice, Sooners’ QB will become third Heisman winner in the history who picked baseball over football. Previous two were Vic Janowicz and Bo Jackson.

Murray also thanked his coach Lincoln Riley who, according to the player’s words, was the key figure in his development. It was a warm speech, and both Murray and Riley couldn’t hide their emotions.

“Nobody really knows how hard these past couple of years have been for me but you and my family,” the young quarterback began. ” “Through it all, you pushed me, you kept me going, kept me focused. You pushed me harder than any coach ever has.”

“I just want to say thank you for believing in me”

It wasn’t easy for both of these guys to keep their cool, but somehow they did it.

Kyler Murray became the seventh Heisman winner who came from Oklahoma, fourth quarterback from this college since 2003.