CHICAGO (December 5, 2013) — In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Kyler Murray of Allen High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Texas Football Player of the Year. Murray is the first Gatorade Texas Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Allen High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Murray as Texas’s best high school football player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award announced in December, Murray joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.), Wes Welker (1999-00, Heritage Hall HS, Okla.), Terrell Suggs (1999-00, Hamilton HS, Ariz.), Anquan Boldin (1998-99, Pahokee HS, Fla.) and Jerome Bettis (1989-90, Mackenzie HS, Mich.).
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound junior quarterback has led the Eagles to a 13-0 record entering the Class 5A, Division I state quarterfinals, scheduled for Dec. 7. Murray threw for 2,967 yards and 37 touchdowns on 172-of-264 passing (65.2 percent) entering the postseason final eight. A Tom Landry Award nominee, Murray also rushed for 767 yards and 15 touchdowns on 108 carries. A retuning Class 5A First Team All-State selection as named by the TSWA, he totaled 3,374 yards and 42 touchdowns as a sophomore, leading Allen to the 2012 Class 5A, Division I state championship.
Murray has maintained a 3.43 GPA in the classroom. In addition to donating his time as a youth football instructor, he has volunteered locally as part of the Reading with the Eagles youth literacy-outreach program and as a mentor to several student team managers with special needs.
“Kyler Murray is the most explosive player that I have coached against in my 18 years,” said Jeff Smith, head coach at rival McKinney High. “I think he is exceptional on the field. As far as his character—from what I have seen and how he conducts himself on the field—he is a class act and plays the game the right way.”
Murray will begin his senior year of high school next fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Murray joins recent Gatorade Texas Football Players of the Year Kenny Hill (2012-2013, Southlake Carroll High School), Johnathan Gray (2011-12 & 2010-11, Aledo High School), Scotty Young (2009-10, Billy Ryan), Garrett Gilbert (2008-09, Lake Travis High School) and Riley Dodge (2007-08, Southlake Carroll) among the state’s list of former award winners.