Kyler Murray and Austin Kendall walked off the practice field this morning and met the media for the first time since preseason camp started.

The Sooners have signed the autographs, Lincoln Riley has held his first official press conference, coaches have previewed their positions and the media has had their go at the stars of the team.

Monday’s post-practice availability was about getting to talk with the key backups. And there are no more popular backups for reporters and fans than backup quarterbacks.

These are the players who are just one play away from becoming the face of a program.

But with Murray, the Sooners have a backup quarterback like few others.

Murray has been the face of Texas high school football. He led Allen High School to three straight state titles from 2012 to 2014. He went 42-0 as a starting quarterback.

He may not have been as popular nationally as Baker Mayfield is now, or as Johnny Manziel was then, but he’s had a nibble of what fame tastes like.

“I had a great time in high school. I was pretty blessed to go through what I went through in high school,” said Murray. “I had great people around me and great people to learn from. I just tried to take it day-by-day and go out there perform. It was fun.”

It’s been well-documented how crazy Murray’s college career started and ended at Texas A&M. He started three games midway through his true freshman season, was replaced by Kyle Allen, and announced he was leaving the team and transferring before A&M’s bowl game against Louisville.

It’s going on two years since Murray was embroiled in that mess. He’s transferred to Oklahoma and kept a relatively low profile.

Monday Kyler Murray celebrated his 20th birthday. He seems as far removed as ever from the controversy and the vitriol in College Station.

Last season Murray was ineligible due to NCAA transfer rules. Now he’s facing the possibility of being one play away from taking over a team once again.

And he’s finally able to exhale a bit and realize his football career is back on track.

“Obviously I knew what I was getting into when I transferred,” said Murray. “Having the job at A&M and leaving, knowing I had to wait a year to play, and even then Baker being able to come back and not starting this year, yeah.

“I think having coach Riley and these guys and looking towards the future, I think that’s when things kind of settled for me. Honestly the first day I stepped foot on campus seeing how they’ve treated me. Things work here the right way. I knew what we had here and I knew that I’m in good hands so I really wasn’t stressed about it after that.”

Murray’s teenage years are now behind him, but the residue of Murray’s high school fame still resonates through social media.

For a guy who has started just three football games in his college career, and a guy who has been out of the spotlight the last year, Murray nearly rivals Mayfield in social media followers.

We’re talking about a high school player who was invited to play in the Under Armour All-American football and baseball games. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in 2014.

He was invited to the ESPYs! As a high school kid!

“The ESPYs had to be the pinnacle. It was like I was just walking on a cloud while I was there,” Murray said. “It was a dream . It was fun to be there and see all the guys you’ve idolized and stuff like that and to meet those guys and pick their brains. It was fun. I got to have dinner with J.J. Watt. It was fun.”

When asked what he and Watt talked about at dinner, Murray clammed up a bit.

“He’s a serious dude. I can say that,” said Murray. “He’s definitely a serious guy.”

You can only imagine Watt sitting across the table from a high school football star. Watt had to mess with the kid.

”A little bit. A little bit,” Murray confirmed. “He doesn’t like quarterbacks. I can say that.”

You have to believe a football player who went undefeated in three years of high school and threw 117 touchdown passes feels he can do what Mayfield is doing on the field.

You can sense it when the subject of social media comes back up.

“He actually surpassed me (in followers) because he’s on top of the world right now,” said Murray with a smirk on his face.

If Murray is the scene-stealing, spoiled brat some Texas A&M fans made him out to be, there’s no evidence of that now.

And the helicopter dad they blamed for being a puppet master at Texas A&M declined to be interviewed for this story saying fathers at this level of football are supposed to be seen and not heard.

Heading into his redshirt sophomore season, Murray seems the model teammate.

He spends this day with the media bragging on OU’s young receivers declaring, “We are loaded”. He tells every one there is a reason OU is known as “RBU” when someone asks how the running backs are looking.

There is no hint he believes he is anything but a challenger to win a backup job to Mayfield. He comes off as another player on the bench who is just ready to be there if called upon.

“He’s a guy you can look up to, role-model type of guy,” said Murray. “He’s gonna work hard so you can’t not respect what he does. He talks on the field, some people don’t like it, but it is what it is. He’s gonna back it up. Definitely a guy we can put our faith in and trust in.”

Whatever Murray’s issues were in the past, he seems content today. This 20-year old just needed a couple of years after being invited to the ESPYs to finally get comfortable with his athletic career.