When Kyler Murray began his NFL career in 2019, no one questioned whether he was the greatest quarterback to come out of the Dallas area.
He was 42-0 as a starter at Allen High School, won three consecutive state championships and started the school’s 57-game winning streak that ranks second in state history. Murray won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma in 2018, then a year later was the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.
It wouldn’t have been a stretch to say Murray was the best in the history of Texas high school football. And that’s in a state that produced three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, 13-time Pro Bowler Drew Brees, Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle, Super Bowl MVPs Jalen Hurts and Nick Foles, four-time Pro Bowler Andrew Luck and former University of Texas great Vince Young.
“Going undefeated for the years that he did and the record that he had, putting up the yards that he has, it’ll go down as one of the best runs for a quarterback in the history of Texas football,” then-Allen coach Tom Westerberg said in 2014.
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But as Murray and the Arizona Cardinals visit the Cowboys on Monday night at AT&T Stadium, a quarterback who played in D-FW a decade before him may have surpassed the former Allen star as the area’s greatest.
Highland Park legend Matthew Stafford is having an MVP-caliber season for the Los Angeles Rams after winning a Super Bowl in the 2021 season, beating the Cardinals in a wild card game on the way. It was the only playoff appearance for Murray, who is in his seventh NFL season. But how much should success in the pros factor in to a high school quarterback’s legacy?
“I think you can weigh college into it, especially if they don’t deal with an injury and things like that, but I also think that once you get to the professional level, it is a little bit different,” said Forney head coach Jeff Fleener, who won state titles with Murray as Allen’s offensive coordinator in 2012, 2013 and 2014. “Obviously getting drafted first in the NFL draft is a big deal, but it also puts you with that team.
“Stafford had a heck of a career in all those years at Detroit, but I don’t know if he would have really put the icing on the cake until he went to the Rams and won a Super Bowl. Kyler has been really loyal to the Cardinals and had some good years and had to deal with some injuries, but your ability to win championships and get the bigger accolades has a lot to do with the team around you.”
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) of Highland Park demonstrates the pass rush to quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone on the sideline of a scrimmage against the Dallas Cowboys 3at training camp in Oxnard, California, August 8, 2024.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
The case for Stafford
Both superstars are two-time Pro Bowlers, but Stafford ranks ninth in NFL history in career passing yards (61,675) and career touchdown passes (394), and he is ahead of Hall of Famers such as Dan Marino, John Elway, Warren Moon and Joe Montana on the all-time yardage list.
The 28-year-old Murray would have to average 4,121.5 passing yards per season over the next 10 years just to get to where the 37-year-old Stafford is now.
“I think Matthew has proven he’s the best quarterback by his continued improvement and performance in the NFL and by his record-breaking yardage and his Super Bowl,” said longtime Highland Park coach Randy Allen, who coached Stafford in high school.
A high school career like Murray’s may never be seen again in the Lone Star State, but Stafford was iconic in his own right. He led undefeated Highland Park to a state title in 2005 — its first championship since 1957 — and he threw for 8,958 yards and 94 touchdowns while going 36-4 as a three-year starter.
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Highland Park football head coach Randy Allen presents quarterback Matthew Stafford with his championship ring at a ceremony Saturday night, April 1, 2006, at Highlander Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
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“The best arm talent I have ever coached against or seen in person,” South Oak Cliff coach Jason Todd said of Stafford. “I watched everything he did in warmups and I knew he was a pro in high school.”
Coach Allen saw that arm strength when Stafford was in eighth grade.
“He could throw the ball 80 yards in the air,” Allen said.
What other coaches say
The Cardinals denied a request from The Dallas Morning News to interview Murray, who has missed the last two games with a foot injury. Although he practiced Tuesday, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon hasn’t announced a starter for Monday’s game, according to the Arizona Republic.
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) warms up against the Green Bay Packers during an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz.
Rick Scuteri / AP
With Murray unavailable to weigh in on the debate, The News surveyed Dallas-area high school coaches for their opinion on the region’s best. The list of candidates includes Hall of Famer Bobby Layne of Highland Park — the only quarterback from the Dallas area in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — along with 1938 Heisman Trophy winner Davey O’Brien of Woodrow Wilson, 1964 Heisman Trophy runner-up Jerry Rhome of Sunset, Ennis’ Graham Harrell, Cedar Hill’s William Cole and 13-year NFL veteran Chase Daniel of Southlake Carroll.
In the end, most favored Murray, with Stafford the runner-up.
“I can’t imagine there being a quarterback who has ever performed at the level that Kyler played at for three consecutive years. He could beat you in so many different ways and literally made everyone around him better,” said Allen coach Lee Wiginton, who wasn’t at the school during Murray’s tenure. “I wish Kyler played for the Cowboys, but I’ll be pulling for him to play great when he comes to town.”
Murray is returning to AT&T Stadium, where he has never lost, going 8-0 as a starter from high school through his time in the NFL. The last time he played in Arlington, in January 2022, he beat the Cowboys 25-22, throwing two touchdown passes and accounting for 307 yards of total offense.
“Coming home, I feel like I can’t lose,” Murray said after that game. “That’s the mentality; that’s just how I feel. Again, though, it’s about coming out and executing. I don’t know what it is, whether it’s the great fans, the stadiums. But when you play at Cowboys Stadium, it’s a big game.”
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) gets past Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory (94) on 9-yard run for a first down with on the first play after the two-minute warning, allowing the Cardinals to run out the clock on a 25-22 victory during the second half of an NFL football game at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, in Arlington.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
Murray’s rise
Murray was a 14-year-old sophomore when he arrived at Allen for August workouts in 2012 after transferring from Lewisville. Fleener knew the prodigy had a rocket arm, but he was blown away when Murray came off the bench in his first game for the state’s largest school and the first game played at $59.6 million Eagle Stadium. He led Allen to a 24-0 win over eight-time state champion Southlake Carroll.
“The plan we had was we weren’t going to immediately throw him into having to be the starter, especially since we were opening up the brand new stadium against Southlake, who had just won the state championship,” Fleener said. “But he ended up having to go into that game because our quarterback started cramping up, and he went in there in front of about 22,000 people and acted like it was no big deal.”
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Murray was the top-rated dual-threat quarterback in the country in the Class of 2015, ranked ahead of Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, who have become NFL superstars. Murray put up spectacular numbers in high school, throwing for 10,429 career yards despite leaving many blowouts early, but still got a bad rap.
“It was interesting as he was going through his recruiting process that a lot of people tried to paint a picture of him being more of a prima donna. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Fleener said. “I think it was more that he is not a big media guy. He doesn’t love having to answer the questions. He was always very careful and guarded. But he put just as much time in off the field to make sure he was as great as he was, both with his training and his film watching.”
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Murray had such a good rapport with Fleener and his family that he would come over and play video games with Fleener’s kids. Even now, Fleener and his family schedule a trip to Arizona every year to see the former Allen star and a Cardinals game.
Murray was named the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year as a senior at Allen in 2014, producing one of the greatest individual seasons in state history by accounting for 79 touchdowns and 6,208 yards of total offense.
That year, Allen became the first Texas school to win three consecutive state championships in the state’s largest class and division in the current split-division format. He rallied Allen from an 18-point third-quarter deficit to beat Skyline 52-34 in the state semifinals, one of the most memorable games of his high school career.
Allen quarterback Kyler Murray (1) sits on the sideline in the second half during the UIL class 6A division I state semifinal high school football game between Allen and Skyline at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas Saturday December 13, 2014. Allen beat Skyline 52-34.
Andy Jacobsohn – Staff Photographer
“I think the record speaks for itself,” Fleener said. “You win that many games with no losses in the highest level of Texas football, that is pretty impressive, especially when you look at some of the teams that we ended up having to beat to do that with the run of the DeSoto teams, the Skyline teams and [Euless] Trinity. Those were wild, crazy games, but he found a way to put the team on his back.”
Westerberg, the Allen coach, best summed up Murray’s career after the 2014 state championship game. He had just watched him throw for 316 yards and five touchdowns in his final high school game, a 47-16 rout of Cypress Ranch, and said simply, “You get to a point where you don’t know what else to say. It’s incredible.”
Allen quarterback Kyler Murray (1) scrambles away from Cypress Ranch’s Mark Bruno (4) in the fourth quarter during the 6A-I state championship game between Allen High School Eagles and the Cypress Ranch High School Mustangs at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Saturday, December 20, 2014.
Louis DeLuca – Staff Photographer
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