The Heisman Trophy is made in the state of Oklahoma, and for the second consecutive year it’s going back to the state where it was made.
Oklahoma Sooners’ quarterback Kyler Murray was named awarded with the 2018 Heisman Trophy, becoming the seventh Sooner player to win the award. Murray was named on 92 percent of the total ballots (2,167 points), which is good for third all-time behind Marcus Mariota and Troy Smith.
Upon winning this award, Murray was named the 2018 AP College Football Player of the Year and had brought home the Davey O’Brien Award. With the winning of the Heisman, Oklahoma becomes the first school in history to have back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners at the quarterback position.
Former Sonners’ quarterback, and now Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Baker Mayfield, took home the award just last year.
“This is crazy,” Murray said. “This is an honor, something that I’ll never forget and something that I’ll always cherish for the rest of my life.”
Murray is a two sport athlete and joins an elite class of two sport athletes to have won the Heisman. In addition, he credits baseball for helping him understand the mental aspect of college football.
“In the grand scheme of things I think it’s shaped me to be the patient guy,” he said. “The guy that understands you’re going to fail at times. Not taking it hard and learning how to deal with failure.”
The Oklahoma quarterback does have a tough decision on his hands this offseason as he looks to pursue baseball after being drafted by the Oakland Athletics. However, he’ll talk about it with his family at the end of the season and see how the NFL feels about him.
“Right now my future is kind of already planned out but we’ll see what happens,” Murray stated.
Although baseball could very well be Murray’s future at the conclusion of this year, he wants to focus on one thing.
“My goal is to win a National Championship here,” said Murray. “We got that in front of us if we just take care of business. Day in and day out that’s my main focus right now.”
Murray this season has 4,053 passing yards, 40 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He’s also rushed for 892 yards this year. His 4,945 total yards this season is a school record.
Murray will lead the Sooners as they face Heisman runner-up Tua Tagovailoa and the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29.
