Kliff Kingsbury was already hot on Kyler Murray’s recruitment when he walked into an indoor football facility in suburban Dallas to meet with Murray during his junior season of high school.

He walked over to Murray and Ryan Hoogerwerf, Murray’s senior backup, while they were warming up together. Hoogerwerf gave a slight wave. Kingsbury waved back. Then Kingsbury and Murray started talking like they had known each other forever.

It felt to Hoogerwerf like the two had been in “cahoots for a while.”cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale

“It was like they were old family friends,” Hoogerwerf told ESPN.

Kingsbury began recruiting Murray in 2012, when Murray was a sophomore at Allen High and Kingsbury the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.
Kingsbury continued to recruit Murray in 2013 after becoming the head coach at Texas Tech — as did every other major program in America. But something between Murray and Kingsbury clicked. They found a bond. That wasn’t easy to do, said Murray’s high school coach, Tom Westerberg, because Murray didn’t trust many people.

Kingsbury and Murray struck up a relationship that, through the long recruitment process, grew stronger. Even after Murray signed with the Aggies and didn’t follow Kingsbury to Texas Tech, their relationship continued.

“I had a great relationship with him,” Murray said at this year’s NFL combine, perking up as he started talking about Kingsbury.cheap nfl nike jerseys from china

“He’s always been very fond of me and I respect that. I’ve always never taken that for granted. He’s always someone I can go to if I ever need anything.”

Besides both being from Texas, both being quarterbacks and both having their fathers heavily involved in their football careers, Kingsbury and Murray found common ground in their personalities. Both are quite intelligent, relatively quiet, don’t like the spotlight and share a similar air of confidence.