Oakland Athletics: Kyler Murray wins Heisman, sees past tweets return

It was the best of times and the worst of times for Oakland Athletics draft pick Kyler Murray on Saturday night. He won the Heisman Trophy, but also saw some of his past tweets come back to light.

Saturday night was supposed to be the crowning moment of Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray’s college football career, at least from an individual standpoint. The Oakland Athletics draft pick was one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the top college football player in the country. He was against Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins for the award, with Murray looking to become the second consecutive Oklahoma quarterback to win the award.

In the end, Murray won out, earning the Heisman. It was a day or celebration, at least for a brief period of time.

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With the Heisman in hand, Murray is looking to join an elite fraternity of players to win that award and play in the majors. Only two other players had done so, with with Vic Janowicz playing in 83 games with the Pirates before heading to the NFL, where his career ending up being cut short after a car accident. Most famously, Bo Jackson played eight years in the majors, although his career was interrupted by hip replacement surgery due to a football injury. Or course, Tim Tebow could become the third, as he will be starting the 2019 campaign in AAA, with an eye towards making his major league debut sometime during the season.

Yet, it was not just a time for celebration for Murray. Instead, the positive mood turned south quickly, as homophobic tweets from when he was 14 and 15 years old came to light. Murray deleted those tweets, but the damage had already been done, as those words could follow him throughout his entire professional career.

At this point, all Murray can do is look to get beyond these words, and prove that he is not the same person. It may take some time, especially as the actions of the past have a tendency to linger despite the present, but that is all he can do at this point.

Oakland Athletics draft pick Kyler Murray won the Heisman Trophy last night. Instead of being a moment of celebration, it was a moment where his past words came to light to ruin the moment.