Oklahoma Sooners Football: Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray selected No. 9 overall by Oakland Athletics in 2018 MLB Draft

UPDATE: ESPN’s Jake Trotter has confirmed Murray’s plan to be a quarterback in the fall.

Original: Oklahoma Sooners quarterback/outfielder Kyler Murray was projected to be picked late in the first round of the MLB Draft by many, while others considered him a second-round pick. As it turns out, the Oakland Athletics are quite high on him, selecting him No. 9 overall on Monday evening.

The assigned value for the No. 9 overall pick is $4,761,500. That’s a big chunk of change, but he wouldn’t necessarily have to turn down a contract in order to play a season of football at Oklahoma. According to both Harold Reynolds (I know, I know) and Jim Callis on MLB Network (and others), Murray is still expected to play one season at quarterback for Oklahoma before joining the organization.

There’s precedent for this kind of thing, as well. Former Clemson QB and baseball player Kyle Parker signed a contract following the MLB draft and was allowed to return to Clemson to play QB. Having said that, his signing bonus was much smaller, and Murray could be tempted to bite and move on to the sport in which his future professional sport sooner rather than later. It’ll be interesting to see what’s included in Oakland’s proposed contract, but one would think both parties have planned ahead here.

As it turns out, Kyler Murray flying from Tallahassee when the news broke, and team didn’t find out until they touched down in Oklahoma City.