Kyler Murray Becomes Oakland Athletics' First Heisman Winner

It's now a trend.

Here's how to win the Heisman Trophy these days:

• Transfer outta any Big XII program, so you can
• Transfer into one particular Big XII program: Oklahoma.

This worked for Baker Mayfield, and now Kyler Murray can say the same.

Possibly because a true Sooner learns how to overcome adversity and stick with it.

 

That's the sorta tenacity the Oakland Athletics saw as an intangible in their first-round draft choice this past spring.

Because of that, Murray's bank account is already $5million to the good.

 

No lie there's a lotta upside.

Which is why the A's didn't mind Murray dicking around a little bit this fall before he gets ready for spring training:

 

Billy Beane & Co were no doubt beaming as the luminaries in attendance at the Sports Museum of America patted him on the head for being the glory boy -- only one lineman's ever won the Heisman, and Leon Hart was a TE -- who hoisted the hardware.

 

Now, the A's have to hold their breath for at least one more game, hoping the Alabama Crimson Tide defense treats him gently.

As if.

 

How serious is Murray about baseball?

Well, besides being enriched already by that Oakland bonus, dude's got super-agent Scott Boras as his agent, and he only does baseball.

This is someone who's no joke at the bargaining table because he's legendary at research and formidable with his terms. There's no way he'd take Murray as a client if he didn't get a firm commitment.

 

When it's part of a career choice, baseball has overwhelming advantages. For example, here are three of the most obvious:

• The possibility of longer careers,
• Better salaries with more guaranteed money, and
• Fewer drastic health risks.

 

Murray's far from the first athlete to spurn the NFL for a shot at The Show. He's fortunate, though, to have voices from experience in his own family:

• His uncle Calvin Murray played for the Texas Longhorns and San Francisco Giants, and
• His dad Kevin Murray played QB for Texas A&M.

Meanwhile, Oakland's expecting players with dynamic upsides like Murray to help usher them into their proposed new stadium in a couple of years, which is dynamic in its own right:

 

As always in sports, though, everthing's contingent. This plan works ...

• If the stadium actually gets built, and
• If Murray makes it to the big club.

 

Clearly, so do the A's.

Spring training rolls out in mid-February.