If you don’t know who Kyler Murray is then you’re not following college football, and by extension, the NFL. If you do know Kyler Murray then yo know he is a quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners and won the 2018 Heisman Trophy.

Murray isn’t just a great football prospect, but he’s also has great baseball potential having been drafted ninth overall in the 2018 MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics. Murray definitely has options as he’ll enter the NFL draft in 2019.

Spotlight: Kyler Murray’s Race & Height

With his life under the microscope, every corner of Murray’s life is scrutinized. The two most-common questions about Murray is #1 concerns about his height — at 5’10, he’s really short for a professional quarterback.

The other common inquiry fans and reporters have is Kyler Murray’s race. Though he is clearly part-African American (or Black), Kyler’s features indicate that he might be mixed.

Pls excuse me while I Google KYLER MURRAY ASIAN?

— Pablo S. Torre (@PabloTorre) November 24, 2018

To further delve into that question, let’s look at Murray’s parents.

Let’s start with his father, Kevin Murray who was a college quarterback with Texas A&M from 1983 to 1986 and is African-American. On the other side is Misun Murray who is Kyler’s mother.

Known as “Missy”, Kyler’s mom is half-African American and half-Korean American where her mother (Kyler’s maternal grandmother) was a South Korean national.

Kyler’s mom recognizes that her son (and she) look a little different.

“I know a lot of people are like, ‘What is he?'” said Murray. “I get asked that a lot myself. So we do subtle things to represent that.”

Murrays Embracing Their Asian Culture

In late 2018, Murray wore a black dragon-imprinted kimono jacket. He wore that traditional Japanese jacket knowing that people would notice the choice because of his Asian features. Here’s how Missy explained it to the press:

“When we saw the jacket it was like, ‘Gotta have it,’” Missy said. “Cause we’re all about representing our Asian culture.  That subtle statement he made on Saturday came across as kind of a strong statement, but it’s awesome.”

We love that. A lot of what people see is the African-American side, but the quarter Asian-American isn’t as overtly-noticeable — especially for Americans that don’t come across many Asian Americans.

So yes, Murray is American of mixed-race having been born and raised in Bedford, Texas and attending high school in Texas. He knows he’s unique, but excited to dispel myths at the next level.