Thursday, January 29, 2015 – Kyler Murray – Come to Texas A&M

Kyler Murray may be one of the best athletes in the state of Texas or maybe in all of college football.

The Dallas Morning News listed five reasons why Kyler Murray should choose Texas A&M over that other school in Austin. You can read the entire article from Brandon Wheeland, but if you just want my cliff note version, here are my reasons why Kyler Murray should attend Texas A&M.

Less traffic in Bryan/College Station
The Texas Legislature is not here
Maroon is a better color than burnt orange
The Aggies will have a new Reveille
The SEC Network is better than The Longhorn Network
The SEC is stronger than the Big 12 Conference and the Big 12 really only has 10 schools
Do not have to go to Lubbock and play Texas Tech and have tortillas thrown at you
No conference championship game in the Big 12
There is room in the trophy case for another Heisman trophy
There are thousands of Former Students who long for a National Championship in football.

Here are five reasons that Murray should choose A&M over Texas. http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/01/five-reasons-kyler-murray-should-choose-texas-am.html/

Legacy – Kyler’s father, Kevin, played QB for Texas A&M from 1983-1986, re-writing the record books along the way. In 1986, he rallied the Aggies to a 31-30 victory after falling behind Baylor 17-0 in the contest Texas Football Magazine later voted the best game of the decade.

To follow in his father’s footsteps and play at A&M would be another milestone in the promising career of Murray. After committing in May of 2014, holding true to his verbal despite all of the outside noise would look great for him.

Murray will succeed at whatever university lands his services, but only A&M can offer the opportunity to launch touchdown passes into the end zone for the same school as his father once did years ago.

Baseball – Haven’t you heard? He plays baseball too.

Murray will be a two-sport athlete whether he chooses Texas or Texas A&M, that much has been decided. He became the first athlete to ever be named an Under Armour All-American in both baseball and football.

Both schools have great programs, so it really is a push in this category. Head coach Rob Childress is in his 10th season with Texas A&M with NCAA regional games a regular occurrence.

That being said, baseball is more of a threat than a bonus when it comes to the services of Murray. The outfielder has a strong shot at going in the first round which could spell disaster for both universities come June if he chooses to turn pro in baseball.

If college ultimately wins out, a combination of newly-renovated Kyle Field and Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field playing host to your athletic abilities is hard to turn down.

Interest in the person more than the player – Lots of promises are thrown out towards the end of January in college football. The most notable rumor during the Murray recruitment as of late is that head coach Charlie Strong has promised him the starting spot at quarterback if he ultimately chooses Texas.

If Sumlin has made this same promise to Murray, it hasn’t leaked yet. He has however been all in on Murray since the start, and isn’t attempting to use all of Murray’s buddies as an incentive to swing the QB to the degree Texas has done.

Murray has the talent to start in college. That much goes without saying. At Texas, it appears it will be handed to him. As for A&M, he will have to earn that opportunity with his play, not his name.

In short, A&M offers Murray the ability to truly develop his game. The Aggies have a pretty strong success record with freshman QB’s over the past few years and there is no reason to believe that won’t continue. The important thing to remember is that should be a decision made by the head coach when a player is ready, not used as an incentive to possibly lure a young QB into a situation that may not be the best for him long term.

SEC. SEC. SEC. SEC. – Call it biased if you wish, but there’s a reason ESPN can’t stop talking about the Southeastern conference.

If the goal for Murray is the NFL, Texas A&M is the school to choose. The exposure of the SEC combined with playing in a newly-renovated $485 million stadium on national television week after week can boost your exposure rather quickly.

Not to mention, the conference championship game provided by the SEC is another luxury the Big 12 can’t provide. As seen recently, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee looks highly upon championship games.

If Murray wants to feed his habit of postseason play, the SEC is the conference to choose.

Johnny Who? – It’s an interesting concept to think about. How many players arrive to college with so much hype they draw comparisons to the greats before they even step foot on a field?

Murray is often referred to as “Manziel 2.0″ on various message boards, but with a higher ceiling.

With new defensive coordinator John Chavis joining Texas A&M, the days of needing to score 40 points to win a game will likely be a thing of the past. During his time at A&M, it’s completely realistic to see this team make multiple playoff runs with Murray at the helm. If that ends up being the case, the Heisman Trophy may be heading back to College Station sooner than expected.