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Henderson column: Murray Tosses Aside Record As He Chases A Title

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 24, 2007

TAMPA As he settled in for Thanksgiving dinner, Robert Weiner took a moment to reflect on something that can only be explained as a gift from the gods.

"I'm serious about this," he said. "I don't know if there has ever been a coach in the history of high school football anywhere in the country who has been blessed like I have to have two kids like this back-to-back."

Weiner, the football coach at Plant High, is prone to a little hyperbole at times (and we love him for it). In this case though, he may truly be on to something.

There were plenty who thought Robert Marve was the best quarterback in the history of Hillsborough County last season as he led the Panthers to a state championship. Then along came Aaron Murray, and that's just flat unfair.

Murray threw four touchdowns Friday night and ran for two more in leading Plant to a 40-14 win over Jefferson in a Class 4A-Region 3 semifinal game at Dad's Stadium. That gave him 51 touchdown passes for this season, breaking the state record of 48 Marve set last year.

The record Marve broke? It belonged to some guy named Tebow. Yet don't you dare suggest that what Murray did is any big deal.

"The only thing that matters is winning the state championship," he said, shrugging off the feat as deftly as one would swat a gnat.
It took just 1:45 into the game for Murray to tie the record with the first of his three touchdown passes to Plant's other-world receiver, Derek Winter. With 2:28 to go in the first quarter, the record was solely his.

"It's a great thing - a great thing for Plant High School," said Marve, who watched from the sideline. "But a record is just a record. The big thing is, his team is playing well enough to win another state championship."

Welcome to Plant, where the only record that matters is 11-1 - which is where these Panthers now stand.

"I know it's a cliché, but [the record] is not the point," Aaron's mother, Lauren, said. "It's a non-issue. The only thing that matters is a 'W' at the end of the game."

Then she said something else.

"Put in there that he's an honor student. That's more important than a football game."

Video Panthers

Weiner has been approached about using his team's offense as the model for a proposed new high school game for the Xbox 360 system. That's what happens when you average 19.96 yards per completion, which Murray has done in his first year as a starter. He has thrown for 3,555 yards.

"They told us we look like a video game out there," he said. "There's no question our offense is a quarterback and wide receiver's dream."

Indeed, Murray finished Friday's game with 335 yards passing in a little more than three quarters, right on his 319-yards-per-game average. He accomplished all that this season despite recovering from a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder suffered last fall while playing safety against Freedom. The resulting surgery knocked him out for much of Plant's march behind Marve to the state title.

It did have one benefit though. He was given a graduate course in quarterbacking by watching the way Marve prepared for a game and handled things in practice and on the field.

"He was able to learn vicariously through Robert," Weiner said.

Looking Ahead

Plant now looks forward to a rematch next week with Armwood; the Hawks knocked out Hillsborough on Friday night. Armwood opened the season by beating Plant 26-7, the Panthers' only loss in their past 27 games.

"I'm pumped," Murray said. "Ever since that first game we've been champing at the bit to get back at them. Hopefully we'll give them a better game this time."

That was Murray's first game as a starter for the Panthers. He was just 14 of 33 that night for 234 yards. He has, as you might guess, gotten a little better.

"I expect he'll be the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the nation next year," Plant defensive coordinator James Harrell said. "We knew he had the qualities and leadership skills to be something special and he has proven that."

Yeah, that's right. Murray is a junior. He'll be back.

Just doesn't seem fair, does it?

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