Just for kicks: Byrd’s Asher Murray, one of the nation’s best, has already committed to Texas A&M
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko sat across from Byrd High placekicker Asher Murray in early June to gauge the standout kicker’s experience over the past several days in College Station.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pounder had a private workout where he kicked in front of Elko, who felt compelled following the workout to offer a scholarship.
Murray took staged photos in Aggies’ gear, went tubing, and met several of the team’s players with a good idea that he had found his college home.
“It was one of the best experiences,” Murray said. “I liked it so much. It was great.”
Elko wanted to find out how meaningful it was. To conclude the unofficial visit, he asked Murray’s feelings about the trip from his Shreveport home, expressing a deep desire for College Station, Texas.
“I told him this is the place,” said Murray, after glancing at his parents sitting nearby.
Elko, still uncertain, asked again, and Murray informed him that he was committed and part of A&M’s Class of 2026.
“He gave me a big hug,” Murray said of Elko. “It was awesome.”
Murray said such a moment had been five years in the works. With a pair of older brothers – Thomas (Oklahoma State) and Abram (signed with Miami and has since transferred to Cal) – having followed the same journey, the younger Murray began entertaining serious thoughts of kicking in college since the eighth grade.
Workouts with his brothers led to private workouts and national kicking camps that first produced a scholarship offer from Memphis in 2023.
Murray was Byrd’s starting quarterback in 2023 before concentrating his effort full time at kicker a year ago, earning Class 5A first team All-State honors and a spot on the MaxPreps All-American junior team last season.
He built quite a kicking resume as the nation’s No. 3 rated kicker by 247Sports and also included scholarship offers from Maryland before his final choice of Texas A&M on June 9.
“I think in my heart I know I’m No. 1,” Murray said. “I’m going to the HKA (Hammer Kicking Camps) camps and working my butt off. I want to be the best in the country, and personally, I think I am.”
Fifth-year Byrd head coach Stacy Bellew believes competition amongst the Murray brothers has been beneficial in Asher’s development.
“All three of them are good athletes,” he said. “They’ve all helped each other in practice and gone to camps, really worked and perfected their craft. They come from a great family. They’ve all helped each other and fed off of each other and have seen how much hard work pays off.”
Murray, who attended A&M’s spring game, put together a list of his finalists with Texas A&M, LSU, Ohio State, and Georgia. His intention was to visit all of them before making a decision.
“We told them this was the place,” Murray said of A&M, “That I was going to shut down recruiting. I didn’t need anywhere else.”
The story could have ended much differently had Murray followed his initial path of playing quarterback.
“He could be a wide receiver, a running back, a quarterback, or defensive back,” Bellew said. “He’s that good of an athlete. He can play somewhere else on the field.”
Murray focused his energy and attention at quarterback, playing the position since he was in the first grade. The older he became, the more serious he was about playing the position, throwing five to six times a week and even on weekends.
With his brother Abram, who is two years older, serving as the team’s kicker at Byrd, Asher was the triggerman for the Yellow Jackets’ run-oriented option attack his sophomore year. He started in all 10 of his team’s games, combining for 283 yards and five touchdowns, but decided after the season to funnel all of his time into kicking.
“I had the drive and loved playing QB,” he said. “There was one game during the season where the other team had a four or five-star defensive lineman, and I took a beating. There were a couple of those games that season. It’s really hard to do both.
“That was really hard (to opt for one position) for me because my whole life I played quarterback,” he said. “I loved to throw the ball, and I know we didn’t throw it too much (he attempted 22 passes in ’23). I really wished I could have gone out there to help the team, maybe help get us a couple of more wins. I’m for helping out the team wherever I can and doing the best at what I do.”
Bellew said it’s not uncommon for players to find better fits with the goal of the team’s success being at the forefront of their decision.
“When you’re dealing with kids, every situation is different,” he said. “In today’s time, when high school athletes are being offered such great opportunities. He’s such a great kicker, and he’s going to have such a great opportunity. I definitely understand his desire to be a specialist and concentrate on that aspect of the game.
“When big-time college coaches are contacting you about being a kicker on their team, that’s so outstanding and such a unique experience, that I understand him really wanting to hone in and perfect his kicking,” he said. “I kind of thought it may come up, and it did. It seems there’s always a couple of kids that are moving from one position to another. It all worked out.”
Asher, who will handle the team’s punting duties after the graduation of Jackson Cooper, credited working with Abram for his rise among the nation’s top kickers. More than his soccer background like his brothers, Asher worked closely with Abram, who finished with 56 points with 6-of-10 field goal kicking, as a senior.
“If I didn’t have him, I genuinely don’t think I would be where I am today,” Asher said. “He’s basically my kicking coach. He showed me everything: How to warm up, work out, the sprints. He helped me so much. I don’t think I could do without him.”
Asher Murray parlayed his success on the Hammer Camp circuit into a solid junior season, ranking second in scoring with 80 points for Byrd in his first year as a starter.
He was successful on 44-of-47 extra points and 12-of-14 field goals, including a share of the school’s record with a 56-yard effort against Benton.
Moreover, Murray put 84% of his kickoffs (48 touchbacks on 57 kickoffs) out of the end zone.
“I was shooting to get a yard or two past them,” Asher said of his two brothers, who had bests of 48 and 45 yards, respectively, to their credit at Byrd. “I ended up surpassing them by quite a bit. It was a joke within the family for a bit.”
Bellew, the team’s defensive coordinator, said there was no way to measure the impact of Murray continually placing the opposition 80 yards away from the end zone.
“I know if we get a good return, and we’re starting out on the 50, we feel pretty good,” he said. “Anytime offenses have to start on the 20, it helps out your defense tremendously.”
Murray’s 56-yard effort provided the exact amount of fuel needed going into his senior season. The state record, held by Ascension Episcopal’s Peyton Woodring, now of Georgia, was set at 60 yards in 2022.
“I’ve had plenty of work with my snapper (Hadley Anderson takes over for ’24 starter Joshua Vienne) and holder (Henry Peacock),” he said. “Maybe I can get the state record.”
Bellew takes into account Murray’s work in pre-game warmups each week when assessing how far out he’ll call for his field goal team.
Murray also had field goals of 52 yards in a loss to Alexandria in the Division I select state playoffs, and a 50-yard effort two weeks earlier in a playoff-opening win over Woodlawn of Baton Rouge. He was also successful from 45 yards out in a district loss to Captain Shreve.
“Sometimes, as soon as we get across the 40, I’m saying get ready to go,” Bellew said. “It kind of depends. When it’s in our district, we have a pretty competitive district, and you need all of the points you can get. A lot of times if he’s having a good pre-game, and he looks like he’s pretty confident, once we get inside the 35, we can be ready.”
Murray has taken the necessary steps to success through his work at camps, his own stretching with a personal trainer, and weightlifting, but has learned a target area on the field to strive for during the recruiting process.
A&M’s special teams coordinator, Patrick Dougherty, presented a chart of all of the SEC’s placekickers from 2024, displaying a 65% success rate on kicks between 40-50 yards. It jumped to 72% from 50 yards and beyond.
It’s the same sweet spot on the field that Murray plans to concentrate more of his efforts on this season.
“I think everyone loves long field goals; they go crazy over it, which is cool,” he said. “If I can really work on those field goals (40 to 50 yards) and dial those in, I figure I can be one of the best kickers in the country. That statistic, I’m honed in on specifically.”
A&M will have a pair of graduate kickers in Randy Bond and Jared Zirkel, along with incoming walk-on freshman kickoff specialist Liam Padron, and then welcome Murray next season.
He’s already displayed grace under pressure, earning a scholarship under the watchful eye of Elko and Dougherty a month ago. A starting position is something he believes is well within his grasp.
“Since I was freshman year, I had been going to private workouts,” he said. “I knew with all of my preparation and the time that I’ve spent kicking, I wasn’t going to not impress him. If I did my best and hit my ‘A’ ball, there’s nobody else in the country they could find that would be better than that.”