I am fortunate enough to have witnessed Murray play while attending A&M. But I am curious if any of you remember his playing before he broke his leg?

What was he like?

Thanks,

Certainly, pre-injury Murray had the steps to take it up the field from time to time. Still, I remember from the beginning, particularly from his second season on, he believed he could throw a bullet through the smallest of cracks (and often did).

I loved how he would angrily call a time out on third down with 15 or more yards to go and then pull off a completion. Most teams back then would have considered that a wasted timeout since the outlook looked bleak.

His confidence took over the offense. It was great.

Technically - wasn't it his ankle?

He could motor when he needed to but would go with the pass first if at all possible.

...only Bucky compared in terms of confidence.

...seems I remember him scoring once (pre-injury) on a ~20 yard quarterback sneak.

MA

It was his ankle. What I really enjoyed was how he would stand in the pocket with a defensive end bearing down on him, and at the very last second duck out, complete the pass, and make the rusher look totally foolish. Don't know if it was his periferal (sp?) vision or if he had eyes in the back of his head, but he was good at it.

It was his ankle. The injury had a serious impact on his mobility (main reason he never had an NFL career according to some). And he was quite a bit thinner before the injury. That said, he was always a passer, not a scrambler.

On a side note - his confidence in his arm was both his strength and downfall IMHO. It was Arkansas that figured out the way to beat him was to flood his passing lanes by dropping into dime packages. He would squeeze some unbelievable passes into cracks, but too many drives ended in an eventual int. Ohio State effectively duplicated Arkansas approach in their Cotton bowl win.

It was his ankle, I can still see the pic that ran in the Eagle the next day. He had a big arm, which sometimes was great, but sometimes hurt. Example that Cotton Bowl game vs. Ohio State. He was hella tough.

The "picture" is in the Aggieland as well. I have to say, the visual rates right up there with the Joe Theisman's MNF break.

Pre-injury, Kevin was the best QB in A&M history. He was a college superstar. He
could run like a deer, but he thought like
a true QB, always looking for the open man.
Bucky was a winner and a great player, but
Kevin was a winner and a great quarterback.

I don't accept the "forcing it in" argument,
unless it applies to a college age Marino, et al. Kevin's confidence in his arm was well-justified and only the OSU Cotton Bowl game
did it not work out. Even then, we were going
to lose if he didn't make eye-popping plays.

If anyone doubts the impact Murray had on our ofense and program, they should research how
we played just prior to and immediately after he took the reins.

He was one of the greatest players in A&M and
Southwest Conference history and his horrible injury against a crap team (Arkie St.) remains
one of the most disappointing blows ever to the A&M program. I still believe that many don't realize how great he was - smart, confident, and gifted - a great leader. When a healthy Murray had the ball, you knew we would win.

Alright you guys. I know the injury was around his ankle. I have the Aggieland year book with the picture.

I called it the leg because the fracture was way above the ankle joints. What we normally think of as the ankle is actually made up of two joints: the subtalar joint, and the true ankle joint.

The true ankle joint is composed of 3 bones, seen above from a front, or anterior, view: the tibia which forms the inside, or medial, portion of the ankle; the fibula which forms the lateral, or outside portion of the ankle; and the talus underneath. The true ankle joint is responsible for up and down motion of the foot.

I believe the fracture occured somewhere around the tibia and fibular above the ankle joints.

You guys are picky.



Class of 89, we never lost to tu.

I have that photo if anyone wants to host it. Sad day in Aggieland.

We would have probably lost that Arkansas State game though, if he hadn't made the first down on the play that he broke his ankle on. As I recall, it was fourth down with like 2 minutes left and he leaped for the first down, and then had his ankle broken on the tackle.

It was the last play of the third quarter.

Stump finished off the drive from the 5 and there was no other scoring in the 4th quarter.

After the injury KM seemed to do well when he rolled out when he passed. See stingrays tu85 clip, I seem to remember many highlight when he was rolling out and threading the needle.

quote:

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Pre-injury, Kevin was the best QB in A&M history

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Kevin got hurt in 1984, so you are basing that comment on one season (1983). Interesting. How did you come to that conclusion?

quote:

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Annual Statistical Leaders
Total Offense

(Since 1949 — Asterisk indicates conference leader; bold indicate members of current squad)

Year Player Plays-Yds Avg
1986 Kevin Murray 393-2348 6.0
1985 Kevin Murray 295-1892 6.4
1984 Craig Stump 269-1280 4.8
1983 Kevin Murray 333-1643* 4.9
1982 Gary Kubiak 369-1885* 5.1

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[This message has been edited by Big Daddy88 (edited 2/27/2004 3:41p).]

He was also ahead of his time, as he was a baseball player before coming to Aggieland. I believe he was a Brewers product, and I know his brother Calvin played for SF Giants.
I also remember him havin a mack 280Z and that jerk reporter from the DMN ambushing him in the Cain Hall parking lot that day. He was one hell of a QB, there's no argument there.

Maroonatic1,

Settle. We all love KM. But every player has his strengths and weaknesses. Many times the same thing that makes you laugh makes you cry.

In terms of forcing passes, you state that:

"only the OSU Cotton Bowl game did it not work out."

Incorrect. Three games prior to OSU, an opportunistic Arkansas defense held A&M and KM to 10 points, in a 10-14 A&M loss. Arkansas exposed his tendency to force throws by flooding the secondary, and OSU was the beneficiary of this strategy three games later.

There is some debate about how good Murray was pre-injury. He played well as a Freshman in '83. But in '84, he struggled. Although the Aggies went 3-0, it was against inferior competion (UTEP, Iowa St. & Ark. St.). The Aggies struggled to win all 3 games and Murray was benched in the ISU game. After the injury, Lynn Amedee was hired as OC and he and Murray hit it off well. Murray's career really didn't take off until then. I don't think the injury really hurt his college career, even if it did cost him a shot at the NFL.

Pre-injury, Kevin was the best QB in A&M history. He was a college superstar. He was the second string AP ALL-American behind Heismane winner Vinny Testavertie (sp).

He could run. To quote Grant Teaff, "it was the Kevin Murry show." Always looking for the open man.

I don't accept the "forcing it in" argument,
unless it applies to a college age Marino, et al. Kevin's confidence in his arm was well-justified and only the OSU Cotton Bowl game
did it not work out. Even then, we were going
to lose if he didn't make eye-popping plays, because we didn't have a "star" reciever.

If anyone doubts the impact Murray had on our ofense and program, they should research how
we played just prior to and immediately after he took the reins.

He was one of the greatest players in A&M and
Southwest Conference history and his horrible injury against a crap team (Arkie St.) remains
one of the most disappointing blows ever to the A&M program. I still believe that many don't realize how great he was - smart, confident, and gifted - a great leader. When a healthy Murray had the ball, you knew we would win.

For some reason, other than the injury, he was not selected in the draft. This has something to do with his relation with Sherril, and no, Sherill was not a racist.

Murray, the greates quarterback in A&M history, like Toombs - the greatest fullback, should be a lesson to all players not piss on the coaches on their way out. I don't know that this is what happened to Murray, but I know he ended on the outs with Jackie.

Ya, I know, my spelling and grammar suck, but it's like I told my eight grade (who was later my A&M tech writing prof) it really doesn't matter because I (will) have people to do that (i.e. write) for me.

I remember Kevin's confidence. I met him at a party in 83', and he told me things were about to get much better. I honestly did not believe him, and then he convinced me, the media, sportswriters, opposing coaches, and SMU, tu, Baylor etc. otherwise. His injury was a terrible blow, and yet if he had not lost mobility, he may not have flourished as much as a passer. He had the courage to stay in the pocket until the last instant. Ohio St. and Arkansas aside, very few teams defensed him very well. He was what I still hold promise with Mr. McNeal. Reggie needs to step it up this yr. to come close to Murray's accomplishment. One of the best memories I have are of Kevin in the 85' game against SMU in Texas Stadium. A comeback , and victory of monumental proportions. It changed the balance of power in the SWC even before we defeated tu in the final game. The Cotton Bowl victory over Bo Jackson and Auburn was the next best victory IMO.

Nobody has yet mentioned the part that Jackie Sherrill played in all of this, the greatest coach in A&M history.

If only Jackie had found a Kevin Murray to save his Mississippi St. Bulldogs.

couple of things

Mowdy - Murray did run a QB sneak in for a TD against Arkansas in 83...but it was more than 20 yards....between 50 and 60 I believe.

Someone mentioned that Jackie hadn't been brought up yet...well,I like Jackie now, but, how good were his offenses when the QB was not Kevin Murray?
Even with Darren Lewis running wild...our offense didn't scare anyone without Murray.

No more sherrill, please. Hell, he even had to sue for K. Murray's services. Let j sherril fade out and pray that coach Fran is nothing like him.

BTHOwyom!

Red Stick - Murray was third team All American in '86. Testeverde was first team, Jim Harbaugh was second. Testeverde and Harbaugh were both seniors, Murray was a junior.

Lynn Amedee was also the most effective OC we've had.

reeb88-
Don't forget Bob Toledo; I would suspect that we averaged more yards and points per game when BT was OC than when LA was here; and I am not knocking LA.

Rumor has it that RC later admitted the biggest mistake he ever made was letting Toledo go. I would tend to agree...

"It takes a man to be a father....."

GiveUsRoom,

I won't concede the technicality w/o a documented source.

I won't concede the point either way.

Red

It still would seem strange that having a falling out with Sherrill would keep Murray out of the NFL. You have to figure that one of the "outlaw" teams like the Raiders would have looked past that. How come Murray never played in the CFL?

The race argument isn't valid either as good african-american QBs are usually good athletes and are often drafted by NFL teams and converted to other positions. This didn't happen w/Murray. Also, the CFL isn't racist about QBs.

Murray must have had a very serious injury and he tried to conceal it through the draft is all I can figure as to why he never played in the NFL.



[This message has been edited by ac (edited 3/1/2004 7:45a).]

quote:

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One of the best memories I have are of Kevin in the 85' game against SMU in Texas Stadium

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Actually in 85 we played SMU at Kyle, winning on that 47-yd field goal by Eric Franklin 19-17. We had that great shootout with the Mustangs at Texas Stadium the next season, where we won something like 39-35.

You know, this is getting to be a long time ago, but it still seems like yesterday. I can still remember all those cotton balls raining down from the 3rd deck during the 85 tu game, along with the manner in which A&M drop-kicked tu back to Austin that night...



__________________________________
"The only place you can leave Alabama for," Franchione said, "is heaven."

Stop it Cinco Ranch Aggie, you're gonna make us, lucky enough to be there in 1985 Aggies, cry!

How's Katy holdin' up?
Ahh, my old stomping grounds!


[This message has been edited by LoudestWHOOP! (edited 3/1/2004 9:48a).]

Murray was about 24 or 25 when he came out, I think he played baseball for 3 years. Remember, back then it wasn't (that) common for baseball players who didnt make it to come back to college, ala Weinke, Quincy Carter, etc.
I'm not saying that's the only reason, but it's one.

How did Murray get hurt, anyway? I seem to remember he hurt himself while cleaning a printing press.

Murray only played pro baseball for one year.

The season of 85 was really great. Espcially slapping t.u. around and making them look really bad. Just a question. In how many ball games did Joe Theisman play after his broken leg? As I recall Kevin's injury was pretty much like Theismans. Career ending type. Kevin was gutty and tough as an old boot. He ran the offense when on the field and nobody doubted who was quarterback. Yes a great athlete but a pretty country fair QB.