Murray shuts door on A's: 'I'm going to play football'

Kyler Murray insisted Saturday that he won't change his mind about playing football to pursue a baseball career with the Oakland Athletics.

"I mean, they can hold out all the hope they want to," Murray said Saturday of the A's, according to ESPN's Jake Trotter. "I'm going to play football."

Murray was taken by the Athletics with the ninth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft. When he signed his contract, the team allowed him to stay at Oklahoma through the fall semester so he could play quarterback.

The 21-year-old wound up starring with the Sooners, capturing the Heisman Trophy and surging up draft boards. He proceeded to back out of his agreement with Oakland and enter the NFL draft.

"The night I got drafted to the A's - obviously it was a great day of my life - but I've been a football player my whole life," Murray said. "I didn't know how the NFL felt about me before this season because I hadn't played.

"Going into this (football) season, (the goal) was to put myself in the best position possible. Obviously, when you win, good things happen. A lot of good stuff happened this year."

Murray will attend the NFL Scouting Combine, which begins Tuesday, though it's unclear if he plans to participate in throwing drills.

The multi-sport star is expected to be a top-32 pick in the NFL draft, which would make him the first athlete ever to be selected in the opening round of both drafts.