Many professional athletes are the best player their local high school has ever seen. Kyler Murray might be the best high school player his home state ever saw.
Even growing up in Texas, known for its immense high school football traditions, Murray exuded all of the special qualities that led to him winning a Heisman Trophy and being drafted first overall in the 2019 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. The speed, the arm talent, the winning. It was all there at Allen High School, north of Dallas.
It's always fun to revisit how dominant the NFL's best players were in the days that they had an even wider talent gap to everyone else on the field. This is a look back at Murray's legendary high school football career.
MORE: How good was Kyler Murray at baseball?
Kyler Murray never lost in high school
Literally. Never.
Murray went 42-0 in his high school career. In 2015, his high school coach told Sporting News that the record in itself is "just unbelievable."
“At the next level, I don't see it a bit different,” Allen coach Tom Westerberg said. “He kind of demands everybody plays at a high level. I think they're going to get a winner whatever program he goes to."
And yes, if you're wondering, Murray did win three straight state titles. We'll get to more on those wins a bit later.
Kyler Murray's high school stats were as crazy as you'd expect
It's probably true that most NFL players put up insane numbers in high school. It's always worth taking a look at Derrick Henry's high school dominance if you want a good laugh, for example.
Murray's numbers at Allen don't disappoint. When you combine his junior and senior season stats, he passed for 7,640 yards and 91 touchdowns while running for 2,737 yards and another 42 touchdowns. That means basically all his single-game outputs were crazy, but we can look at a few specifics.
Below is a year-by-year breakdown of Murray's high school football stats (all stats via Max Preps).
Junior year
| GP | 16 |
| Pass yards | 3,669 |
| Pass TDs | 46 |
| INTs | 9 |
| Comp. % | .637 |
| Rush yards | 1,328 |
| Rush TDs | 18 |
| YPA | 8.3 |
Senior year
| GP | 16 |
| Pass yards | 4,715 |
| Pass TDs | 54 |
| INTs | 7 |
| Comp. % | .642 |
| Rush yards | 1,498 |
| Rush TDs | 24 |
| YPA | 9.9 |
According to MaxPreps, Murray opened his senior season with a 55-41 win over Guyer. That day, Murray completed 20 of 31 passes for 394 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing seven times for 106 yards and another touchdown. Murray's junior season opener against Carroll was crazy, too. He completed 17 of 24 passes for 466 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for another 80 yards and two scores on 18 carries.
Murray dominated at 'Jerry World'
Of Murray's three state titles, the final two were played at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Both games drew more than 50,000 fans.
As a junior, Murray and Allen beat Pearland in the title game, 63-28. Murray threw for 280 yards, ran for another 188 and scored five total touchdowns. As a senior, Murray's crew won 47-16 against Cypress Ranch. He again scored five total TDs while passing for 316 yards and rushing for 63 more.
For those wondering, Murray has played at "Jerry World" since high school. That's where his Oklahoma team beat Texas in 2018, 39-27. Murray only ran for 39 yards that day, but it's because he threw all over the Longhorns to the tune of 379 yards and three scores.
The best Texas high school football player ever?
Sporting News spoke with the managing editor of Dave Campbell's Texas Football, Greg Tepper, in 2015. That publication has covered local football in Texas for more than six decades. Tepper wasn't afraid to put Murray right up near the top of the Texas legends list.
“If Earl Campbell played in the social media age it would be similar,” Tepper told Sporting News in 2015. "... I don’t feel comfortable saying he is unequivocally the best high school player in Texas high school history. But if somebody else wants to come up and say that I won’t argue against it.”
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram did a survey prior to the 2019 season to see who local players, coaches and media thought was the best Texas high school football player ever. The leading vote-getter was Johnathan Gray, who went on to play at Texas. As a senior, Gray rushed for 3,891 yards and 65 touchdowns. Murray tied for second place in the voting with the late Cedric Benson, who also went on to play at Texas before playing in the NFL for the Bears, Bengals and Packers.
Other notable players who Murray received more votes than in that survey include: Dez Bryant, Earl Campbell, Myles Garrett and Robert Griffin III.