#ItMightMeanTooMuch: The worst Kyler Murray take of all time and Dan Mullen's revolutionary recruiting tactic
Heading into last Saturday’s Heisman Trophy presentation, I was confident about two things.
One was that it was going to be a tight race. Given how well Kyler Murray played in the Big 12 Championship, the idea that Tua Tagovailoa was going to win in a landslide seemed all but out of the question.
The other was that the fan base of whichever player lost was going to be suuuuuuuuuuuper upset.
Well, props to me. I was right on both counts (nobody needed to know that I picked Tagovailoa to win and not Murray).
We don’t need to discuss how Tagovailoa earned more votes than any runner-up in the history of the award. Everyone knew it would be close.
Instead, let’s dissect a fire take that came from Tagovailoa’s snub.
Now, for what it’s worth, I wrote over the weekend that I thought Tagovailoa should’ve won the award. I cited how the best defense that Murray faced in his final five games was No. 57 Texas, while Tagovailoa had to battle four defenses that ranked in the top 30. In my opinion, that should’ve counted more than it did.
But my take wasn’t nearly as hot as a certain Paul Finebaum caller.
Read this thread from Barrett Sallee, and keep in mind that an actual person said this:
"Kyler Murray would be the fourth string quarterback at Alabama."
– A caller on @Finebaum, just now.
— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) December 10, 2018
The same caller just said today:
"I know for a fact that I wouldn't trade Jalen Hurts or Tua Tagovailoa for him. Mac Jones is actually pretty decent himself. We'll see how good Kyler does against an SEC defense on the 29th."
— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) December 11, 2018
This same @finebaum caller just said that he would rank Kyler Murray No. 11 among quarterbacks in the SEC.
— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) December 11, 2018
I’d love to see the Mac Jones poster that this caller has hanging in his house. Do you think it’s framed? I bet it’s framed. You don’t speak that highly of someone and not shell out a few extra bucks for the frame.
Let’s get back to the matter at hand here. A real person believes that Murray, who is about to set the FBS record for yards per attempt in a season, would probably not make the travel roster if he played on Alabama. According to said caller, the dude who just scored 51 touchdowns and racked up nearly 5,000 yards from scrimmage at Oklahoma would be fighting for scout team reps at Alabama.
Now that’s laugh-out-loud funny.
It’s true that Big 12 defenses have not been good this year. That’s a factually correct statement, regardless of one’s personal bias.
But goodness, it’s still Oklahoma. It’s not like Murray played at Southeastern Oklahoma State (shoutout to Dennis Rodman). Call it “flag football” if you want, but there will still be plenty of Big 12 defensive players in the NFL.
And another thing to keep in mind with Murray for everyone having the “we don’t know if he’s good yet” conversation. He’s a former 5-star recruit who was ranked the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2016 class. The guy was expected to be Johnny Manziel 2.0 when he got to Texas A&M. He pretty much is, but he’s just doing so at Oklahoma.
I realize that I’m preaching to the choir here in that 99.99999 percent of humans believe that Murray is, in fact, better than Jones. If you want to say that you’d rather have Jalen Hurts on your team, I won’t necessarily agree with that, but I’ll respect that opinion just because we’ve at least seen two seasons of Hurts leading a team to the Playoff as an underclassman.
I just can’t get on board with the Jones > Murray take.
MAC JONES HAS 13 CAREER PASS ATTEMPTS. HE DIDN’T EVEN COMPLETE HALF OF THEM.
Okay, I’m done. Sorry for letting a Finebaum caller get under my skin.
Dan Mullen’s new recruiting tactic is so 2018
The thing that everybody started doing a few years ago was letting uncommitted recruits wear the jersey of whatever school they were visiting. Say what you want about “earning the right to wear the jersey,” but I could make a pretty good case for why it’s actually an extremely smart move to bring that visualization to life.
So how does one take that up a notch? Easy. Just let the parents get in on the action.
MAKE SURE YOU GET THE ARM SLEEVE, TOO, DAD!
https://twitter.com/HimsoHam/status/1071918354074648576
Credit to Lloyd Summerall II (I assume?) for actually having the arms to pull off the look. For all the dads rocking the massive beer bellies who try to squeeze into those jerseys, please post pics on social media. We all need that.
And let’s remember that it’s 2018. Dads aren’t the only ones who should be allowed to live through their sons.
MOM, YOU TAKE THE ALTERNATE JERSEY AND I’LL ROCK THE HOME BLUES!
https://twitter.com/7totha8/status/1072146070019428352
This is peak 2018 recruiting. To be honest, I’m sort of surprised that this isn’t universal yet. What better way to let a parent live out their dream through their child than to let them literally suit up like they would? It’s genius.
Coaches always talk about how the key to recruiting is winning over the parents. I see no better way to win them over than by letting them dress head-to-toe in an official uniform. Sure, we can hear that same speech about values and how “you can trust me with your son,” or you can make a memory that’ll last a lifetime.
There’s no way that Lloyd Summerall II is EVER deleting that picture off his phone.
The irony here is that Mullen hasn’t been recruiting at the level that Florida fans were hoping for. While Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M and LSU are all ranked in the top four nationally just a few days from the start of the early signing period, Florida is just No. 10 in the SEC and No. 20 nationally. The Gators only have verbal commitments from one of the top 30 recruits in the state of Florida.
Yikes. Maybe Mullen should start promising recruits’ parents a snap in the 2019 opener.