Kyler Murray Ready For NFL, Remains Coy On Combine Specifics

Kyler Murray’s focus now has completely shifted towards football after he informed Oakland Athletics he will not be playing baseball this season. Spring training gets underway this week, but the Heisman Trophy winner was preparing to receive the Davey O’Brien Award – given to the nation’s best college quarterback.

The questions, however, were not focused on Murray’s athletic ability or his decision to switch to playing football over baseball – but his height for a signal caller in the NFL. The 21-year-old threw 4,361 yards, running for 1,001 and accruing 54 total touchdowns and is now projected to be a first-round NFL Draft pick in 2019.

A number of NFL executives and scouts have expressed concern over his height, but Murray made it clear that he is not 5'7" as some had claimed. He revealed that he was 5'10" after accepting the Davey O’Brien Award and admitted it was this past season that allowed him to get noticed by the NFL teams as he was not “too hot” until then.

"There's something about football that you can't really explain. If you've played it, you understand what it takes to be successful at the game," Murray said, as Dallas News’ Sports Day. "There's a love for the game that I can't really explain. Obviously my career as far as the early stages of my college career, it wasn't looking too hot. I didn't know how the NFL felt about me.”

"And then after this past season, it was to go in and kind of put myself in the best possible situation. I think I did that. Now you've got a 5'10" kid projected to go in the first round, playing quarterback. It's not normal,” he added.

Murray admitted it was difficult for him when he had to inform the Athletics about his decision to focus on football rather than report to spring training and prepare for the upcoming baseball season. But he said that in the end, he had to go with what “his heart” was telling him, while also getting feedback from former Heisman Trophy winners Tim Tebow and Baker Mayfield.

"At the end of the day," Murray said. "I had to go with my gut and what my heart was telling me what to do."

The Oklahoma Sooners quarterback confirmed his presence for the upcoming NFL Combine which begins Feb. 26 in Indianapolis but remained coy on the specifics, while also not revealing where he would be training. The young signal-caller, however, is aware of what his job is and what the NFL teams want.

"I think that's my job, not sell myself, but make them feel great about me, make them know they're investing in me," the quarterback added. "I think that's something that I'll have to do when I go up there."