Kyler Murray says he’s ‘fully committing’ to football over baseball

Kyler Murray wants to be an NFL quarterback instead of a big league outfielder.

The reigning Heisman Trophy winner and probable first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft announced his decision to fully commit to playing football instead of baseball in a tweet posted Monday. The former Oklahoma star says he’s already started training to get drafted in April and wants to show NFL teams he’s “the franchise quarterback in this draft.”

Murray, a two-sport star at Oklahoma in baseball and football, could be the first athlete ever selected in the first round of both the MLB and NFL drafts. The Athletics picked the speedy outfielder with the ninth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, at which time the team believed he would select to pursue baseball instead of focusing on the gridiron.

However, Murray blew up in his junior year with Oklahoma by winning the Heisman and leading the Sooners to the College Football Playoff. Despite his lack of size – which remains the biggest red flag on his resume entering the NFL – he completed 69 percent of his passes for 4,361 yards, 42 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also ran for 1,001 yards and 12 touchdowns while leading an explosive offense that led the nation by averaging over 48 points per game.

There were reports that the A’s were hoping to convince Murray to attend big league spring training, which is set to begin this week, but Murray appears to have put out this statement in order to end any speculation over his future. Here’s more on what this means for Murray and Oakland:

Murray will be one of the highest-ranked quarterbacks in the 2019 NFL Draft. Other well-regarded passers include Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, Missouri’s Drew Lock and Duke’s Daniel Jones.