Five-star DE Myles Murphy loves that Clemson is about more than just football

Murphy powers past an offensive lineman Sunday at The Opening

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Mar 26, 2019, 11:15 AM

STOCKBRIDGE, GA - When Myles Murphy makes his college decision, it will be more about college and less about football.

Of course, playing on a winning team and being the best player he can be is important, but being prepared for life after football is just as crucial to the 5-star defensive end.

The Powder Springs (GA) Hillgrove prospect is ranked as the No. 5 overall player in the ESPNJR 300 and the top player in the state of Georgia, and he has his eyes set on a Clemson visit in two weeks.

“On my next visit, I'm just going there for academics,” Murphy told TigerNet at Nike’s The Opening Regional in Atlanta last weekend. “I'm going to go to the engineering facilities to see what they have and what they can give me to compare them to other engineering facilities at other colleges to see which one will give me the best step forward in the real world.

“I just want to see the push that they give their students to be in the best position. Player tutoring. At Auburn, they have player tutoring every Wednesday and sometimes on the weekend students get together because they're studying the same thing, so they know what they need to learn and they know what they need to study so when it does come to test day or lab day, they know exactly what to do.”

Murphy’s upcoming visit will be his second to Clemson this year after he visited in January for the elite junior day event.

“My last visit was a while ago. It was just a regular visit, and it was the same thing. I was just talking with the coaches,” Murphy said. “It was a junior day, and Coach Swinney put on a presentation about how Clemson is a family organization. All of the coaches had their families there, and there were some pets there also. It was almost like a recreational time with all of the coaches and the other recruits and some of the players who are already there.”

The junior day visit allowed Murphy and inside look at the opportunities Clemson offers players away from football.

“Really it's the great environment that they have and the great players that they produce because of the atmosphere and what they teach into the boys - the PAW Journey program,” he said. “After college, they really try to push them into the real world by giving them job opportunities, internships and some of them went out of the country. Some of them went to New York over spring break. That's what I really like to see out of Clemson.”

Murphy has visited all of his top schools at some point and has taken detailed notes, so when it comes time to make a decision, he has the pros and cons of each school in one place.

“Every visit I've taken over the last year, I've taken a notebook and taken notes,” he said. “I have a notebook at home that has all of the pros and cons of each school and whichever school has the most pros and which one as the best feel - where I feel at home and where I feel I can make the most friends and build relationships with, that's the one I'm going to choose.”

Those pros and cons don’t necessarily all pertain to football.

“I want the entire experience,” he said. “I heard both my parents and some of my friends' parents talk about their college experience. A lot of them, their college relationships, they still have them on down the road, so I just want that.”

While many people would assume Georgia sits atop Murphy’s list, he said Clemson is at or near the top of his list.

“They're most definitely in the top few schools that I'm looking at,” he said. “To name some of them, it's Clemson, Auburn, probably Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and probably some others in the Southeast. I'm going to have it narrowed down over the summer, and then I will make my decision in August.