Texas A&M QB Kyler Murray plays like Johnny Manziel in Aggies win over South Carolina
A star is born as Kyler Murray looked like the second coming of former Heisman winner Johnny Manziel in leading the Texas A&M Aggies to a win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in his first career start.
Kyler Murray had to wait a little longer than he anticipated to make his first career start for Texas A&M, but the wait was worth it as he looked like the superstar who can do things like Cam Newton or Manziel and very much looked like he was projected to be when he signed with the Aggies.
Murray lost the quarterback competition to sophomore Kyle Allen and waited in the wings, playing sparingly as Allen led Texas A&M to a 5-0 record to start the year, but after back-to-back losses when Allen was a turnover machine and battling an injury, Murray got his chance.
Texas A&M played its best game in a month with a 35-28 win over South Carolina and Murray led the team in passing and rushing and it doesn’t look like he’ll be relinquishing his starting job anytime soon.
Murray was 20 of 28 passing for 223 yards and a touchdown and ran for 156 yards and a touchdown on a fourth down keeper to give the Aggies a 28-21 lead in the second half.
Murray became the first Aggie quarterback since Manziel in 2012 to throw for more than 200 yards and rush for more than 100 and that was the expectation for Murray since the former five-star recruit and Gatorade National Player of the Year signed with Texas A&M last winter.
He has the dual-threat abilities coaches love and the intangibles coaches dream of.
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Murray went 42-0 as a starter and won three straight state titles playing in the biggest division in Texas, so the big stage of the SEC was just the next progression for Murray and it doesn’t look like he’s intimidated by anything.
Murray showed how bright his future can be and it makes me wonder if Texas A&M would have been better equipped to beat either Alabama or Ole Miss the last two weeks had Murray been the starter from the start.
It would be easy with the benefit of hindsight to question that, but instead of looking in the rear-view mirror and asking what if, Aggie fans should be asking how far Murray can take them next year and beyond.
If Murray can deliver these performances on a consistent basis, there’s no ceiling to how great he can become.