Kyler Murray, Texas-native Cardinals headed back to Dallas
Jan 1, 2022, 1:00 PM | Updated: 1:08 pm
Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals runs for a touchdown against Xavier Woods #25 of the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter at AT&T Stadium on October 19, 2020, in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Arizona Cardinals head back to Dallas to take on the Cowboys Sunday in a state homecoming for many of its players.
Quarterback Kyler Murray and head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s Texas roots have been well documented.
Murray is an all-time great high school quarterback from Allen HS, in the Dallas area. He finished 43-0 as a starter and won five games at the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium.
He is 8-0 in Sunday’s venue thus far, including college and a victory for the Cardinals last season.
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“Since high school, I’ve been on pretty good teams, had the privilege to play with a lot of great players, great coaches, and we’ve shown up whenever we’ve played there,” Murray said. “I guess good juju in that building.”
Kingsbury had a prolific run at New Braunfels High School near San Antonio. He went on the play for and eventually head coach at Texas Tech.
But the Cardinals’ roster is full of Texas connections.
Safety Chris Banjo (Sugar Land), running back Eno Benjamin (Wylie), offensive lineman Josh Jones (Richmond), safety Deionte Thompson (Orange) and wide receiver Antoine Wesley (Cibolo) are all from the state.
Quarterback Colt McCoy won a couple of 2A Offensive MVPs for Jim Ned High School in Tuscola before becoming a Texas Longhorn.
Receiver Christian Kirk is from Arizona, but he played college ball at Texas A&M.
Right tackle Kelvin Beachum, Arizona’s Walter Payton Man of the Year, is a Mexia native, which is about 100 miles away from AT&T Stadium.
He told reporters last week that a homecoming sometimes brings on unwanted responsibilities, though.
“Honestly, I don’t like playing in Dallas because it’s too close to home,” Beachum said. “I got a great system where if you want tickets, you call my parents … I’ll make it very, very easy on myself during these these particular circumstances.”
He said that this week is a big one for the team as it faces the 11-4 Cowboys, and Arizona needs to approach it like any other game.
“We still have an opportunity in front of us to be a championship-caliber team, and we want to find a way to get that done,” Beachum said. “It just happens to be in Dallas this week.”
The game starts at 2:25 p.m. on Sunday and you can tune in on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
