Kyler Murray, High School Football Legend

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Tom Westerberg had known Kevin Murray for a long time. When Murray was a star quarterback at Texas A&M, Westerberg was a student manager there. As Westerberg later became entrenched as the head coach at Allen High School, Murray was a well-known quarterbacks coach in the area and had trained some of Allen's signal-callers.


So when Murray's son Kyler enrolled at Allen before his sophomore year, Westerberg had an idea what the younger Murray might be, even if most others did not.


"It was only a matter of time when he took over and did it for us," Westerberg said.


In the summer workouts before the school year, Kevin Murray made sure Kyler was throwing to receivers he would now be playing with, going as far as to reach out to kids that not only would be a part of the 2012 squad, but beyond – like Guyton, who wasn't slated for varsity until his junior season in 2013.


"The one thing I remember the most was, (Kyler) was the new kid and no one knew his name, but he was always like, 'Hey can you come out and throw with us tomorrow,' " Guyton said. "He showed a whole lot of work ethic and initiative.


"Allen already had a tremendous amount of culture, where we had the mission ourselves. But I will say (Kyler) just multiplied, just magnified the effect."


Pierce, the senior, was the starting QB. Westerberg put in some packages for Murray to run early in the season. But the shift started in Game 5, when Allen couldn't put away Coppell. Murray came into the game and helped get the Eagles into overtime before Coppell posted the upset.


"At that point we said we're fixing to pull the trigger and go with Kyler," Westerberg said. "We thought we were a better football team with him at quarterback and Oliver back at inside receiver."


Pierce acknowledged he was a "little upset at first" when Murray supplanted him at quarterback. And Pierce, who later attended Arizona State as a wrestler and has then returned to Allen as a wrestling and football coach, admitted people still will good-naturedly joke with him about losing his spot.


"For Oliver to do what he did was unselfish," Murray said.


But Pierce reveled in the state championship run that season. Later, when Murray's time at Texas A&M didn't work out and he transferred to Oklahoma and some wondered if Murray's magic was just in high school, Pierce had a sense of déjà vu.


"It was the same," Pierce said. "I told (people), 'Just wait. Just wait.' When you see him play, and you're around him and you see him in practice, you just kind of know. You could see, 'Man, he's about to take over.' "

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