McMurtry Is Michigan’s Bo Jackson : Rose Bowl: Receiver plays two sports, although baseball has taken a back seat to football.

It would be understandable if Michigan’s Greg McMurtry were second-guessing a decision that he made coming out of high school in Brockton, Mass.

As a celebrated two-sport star, he turned down a $172,000 signing bonus with the Boston Red Sox to pursue a career in college football.

This season, as a senior wide receiver for Michigan, he has prospered on a team that is mainly run-oriented.

His college baseball accomplishments have been mediocre considering that he was a major league prospect.

Yet the 6-foot-3, 206-pounder seemingly has no regrets. “I wanted to play college football to see how good I could be,” he said. “That’s the main reason why I turned down an offer to play baseball.”

Asked if had any second thoughts, McMurtry said: “No, not all.”

In three baseball seasons, McMurtry had a batting average of .258 with 10 home runs and 83 runs batted in. The big money that was once offered may not be forthcoming now, although he said some major league teams are still interested in him.

He said he still hasn’t decided about his future--the NFL or pro baseball. As for his college baseball experience, he said: “It’s kind of disappointing, but I knew coming in that I wouldn’t be able to put in as much time as I wanted to. In the past four years, I’ve come to realize why I haven’t been as good a player as I am capable of being.”

Dividing time between baseball and football practice in the spring has not been conducive to his development as a baseball player. However, he has excelled in football.

Michigan is not a throwback to the Big Ten teams that used to visit the Rose Bowl. You know, three yards and a cloud of dust for a running game, with passing as a last alternative.

Nonetheless, the Wolverines aren’t exactly an aerial circus.

For example, quarterbacks Michael Taylor and Elvis Grbac have thrown 218 passes over the course of an 11-game season, compared to 321 attempts by USC’s Todd Marinovich.

McMurtry has made the most of his somewhat limited opportunities as a receiver. He has caught 37 passes this season for 655 yards and seven touchdowns.

Moreover, in a Nov. 18 game against Minnesota, he caught three touchdown passes from Taylor, all in one quarter, tying a school record set by All-American Ron Kramer in 1955.

He is a big-play receiver who doesn’t get as many opportunities to display his skills as other athletes in pass-minded offenses.

Yet, McMurtry puts such comparisons in perspective.

“I could have gone to Purdue and caught 50 or 60 passes a year and we’d lose eight games and be physically beat every week. Who wants to do that? I can come here and catch 30 or 40, go to the Rose Bowl and have a good time beating on people instead of people beating on us.”

Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler was so intent on recruiting McMurtry that he offered him jersey No. 1 if he chose the school.

That numeral was previously worn by Schembechler’s favorite player, Anthony Carter, an accomplished receiver with the Minnesota Vikings.

Carter is Michigan’s all-time leading receiver in receptions, yardage and touchdowns. That alone shows the esteem in which Schembechler held McMurtry--and still does.

“He’s the salt of the earth, a wonderful kid,” Schembechler said. “He does everything you could ask of a receiver and you never hear a word out of him. To be honest, I don’t know why you don’t see his name more in headlines. We think he’s a great player.”

Bo, of course, knows that numbers get headlines.

UCLA was among the schools that tried to recruit McMurtry for football. It can be fantasized now that he could have spent part of his collegiate career catching passes from Troy Aikman, who went on to become No. 1 draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys.

McMurtry just smiled quietly when asked if he had been interested in playing for UCLA.

“Oh yeah, I considered UCLA. At the time, though, it was too far away,” he said.

So McMurtry lives with his decision, but at times his thoughts wander.

“Sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like playing for the Red Sox, but I have no regrets,” he told the Detroit News. “It would have been nice, but I decided to try football and get an education. Football has always been number one with me, so if I had to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing.”

No. 1 will have special significance in Monday’s Rose Bowl game. USC split end John Jackson, the school’s all-time leading receiver, also has that number.

Jackson has caught more passes this season than McMurtry, 57 to 37, but the Michigan split end has more touchdowns, seven to five.

It should be quite a matchup.