Murray played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 2011 NFL draft.

Murray attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he played football, basketball, and ran track for the Gaels athletic teams.

[citation needed] Considered one of the top running backs of his class, Murray drew offers from Miami (FL), Penn State, and Texas A&M, among several others.

[9] In his first game for the Oklahoma Sooners on September 1, 2007, against the North Texas Mean Green, Murray rushed for 87 yards and five touchdowns in the 79–10 victory.

[10][11] On September 15, 2007, in the 54–3 victory over Utah State, Murray set a Sooner record when he had a touchdown run of 92 yards, which is the third longest in Oklahoma football history.

[15] Overall, Murray finished the 2007 season with 127 carries for 764 yards and tied Adrian Peterson's freshman touchdown record with 15.

[16] In the 2008 season, Murray continued to share the backfield with Chris Brown while newcomer Mossis Madu got some carries as well.

[37][38] Murray started the season off with a strong performance of 208 rushing yards and two touchdowns against Utah State in the 31–24 victory.

[40] The following week against Air Force, Murray ran for 110 yards and his third consecutive game with two rushing touchdowns in the 27–24 victory.

[46] In his final collegiate game, Murray had 93 rushing yards and a touchdown against #25 Connecticut in the 48–20 victory in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl.

[49] He was a four-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree during his career and graduated from Oklahoma with a degree in communication and a double minor in business and African American studies.

After the Rams game, Tashard Choice was released leaving the team with only two healthy running backs, rookie Phillip Tanner and Murray, with Felix Jones still sidelined with an injury.

[70] With 466 rushing yards over the last three games, Murray tied Eric Dickerson for the fifth-highest total all-time by an NFL rookie during a three-game span.

[89] This marked the eighth straight game where the Cowboys have won with Murray rushing the ball 20 or more times as the starting running back.

[94] Rookie Joseph Randle took Murray's place because second-string running back Lance Dunbar was also battling an injury of his own.

[97] Three weeks later against the Redskins, Murray scored a ten-yard receiving touchdown from Tony Romo late in the fourth quarter to help give the Cowboys the game-winning points in the narrow 24–23 victory.

[98] After the final game of the season, Murray was fined $21,000 for violating the crown-of-the-helmet rule on a collision with Philadelphia Eagles' defensive lineman Damion Square.

[99] Murray finished the 2013 season ranked 11th in total yards from scrimmage with 1,471 while missing two games due to injury.

[107][108] Given his previous injury history, the team considered limiting some of his workloads, but he was such an integral part of the offense success, that the Cowboys could not cut back on his playing time.

[111] During a Week 4 38–17 victory over the New Orleans Saints, he rushed 24 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns for his fourth straight game finding the endzone.

[113] The following week against the defending Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks, he ran for 115 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries in the 30–23 road victory.

[135] On March 9, 2015, it was reported in the media that Frank Gore had agreed in principle to a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles to replace LeSean McCoy, who was recently traded to the Buffalo Bills.

On March 12, Murray agreed to a five-year, $42 million contract, joining his former college teammate, quarterback Sam Bradford.

However, he scored two touchdowns, an eight-yard run and a five-yard reception, in a narrow 26–24 road loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football.

[145] Murray missed Week 3 against the New York Jets due to a hamstring injury, while Mathews ran for 108 yards and Darren Sproles scored two touchdowns.

[147] During a Week 6 27–7 victory over the New York Giants, Murray rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, which turned out to be his only 100-yard game of the season.

[150] During a Week 13 35–28 road victory over the New England Patriots, Murray was demoted because the team decided the smaller, quicker Darren Sproles would be more effective.

[174] Additionally, in a Week 10 47–25 victory over the Green Bay Packers, Murray threw his first NFL touchdown on a 10-yard halfback pass to Delanie Walker.

[180] Murray split carries with Heisman Trophy-winning second-year running back Derrick Henry and run-oriented quarterback Marcus Mariota, reaching 15 rushing attempts just once through Week 10.

[206] On January 2, 2019, Murray joined Kevin Sumlin's staff at the Arizona Wildcats football team as the running backs coach.