03-26-2023, 09:46 PM
Four dimensional analysis on Murray:
Services: 247 composite NR, On3 consensus NR, 247 NR, On3 NR, Rivals NR, ESPN NR
Offers: Stanford, Appalachian State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Massachusetts, Memphis, Minnesota, Virginia, Wake Forest, Kansas, Liberty, UAB
Production: As a junior against below-average competition (bottom 27 percent of Stanford players), Murray was named Player of the Year in region 6-4A in Georgia (among all offensive and defensive players) and 4A all state. His team unfortunately does not do a great job reporting stats, reporting a bit less than half of the games from his junior year and only a couple of games from his sophomore year. Among what was reported for his junior year, he had 3.7 tackles per game (most among those with more than two games reported), 10 tackles for loss (next closest was 4), and 3 sacks (nobody else with more than one in those games). It was also interesting to see that in those games at least he was his team's second or third leading rusher, with 40.3 yards rushing per game on 6.7 yards per carry (most of anybody with more than ten carries) and nearly a touchdown per game (more than double the next closest in the reported stats). His freshman highlights claim 13 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in five games. In December 2021 he participated in the Georgia Elite Classic postseason all star game and was touted in one report as "maybe the biggest surprise of the week" "that came out of nowhere to dominate practices and played very well in the game as well." A few weeks later 247 named him as an honorable mention performer at the All American Bowl National Combine, making him the fifth to 13th most standout DL at an event that included 2023, 2024, 2025, and even some 2026 prospects; he was the top 2024 DL, with one 2026 also getting honorable mention. In track and field, Murray has a 46'2" personal record in the shot put and a 103' 3" in the discus. The shot put is middling and the discus is totally uncompetitive but very few meets are reported.
Highlights: Murray does not post single game highlights, aside from single highlights of touchdown runs and such, so I can't dig in like I normally would and need to work for these tidbits. His freshman, sophomore, and junior highlights all show him playing DE out of a four point stance, making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage on both pass and run plays and getting bigger and more dominant each year. The sophomore highlights also show a fair amount of him carrying the ball. Specific highlights that stood out were a tackle for loss against North Cobb Christian but not against Georgia Tech DL signee Gabe Fortson, who was playing center and thus not matched up against Murray, and a tackle for loss against Eagle's Landing Christian Academy after holding his ground/eventually shedding LSU whale OL signee DJ Chester (whose own highlights show three or four pass block sets against Murray). That latter game tape would be the one to get a hold of to see Murray against an elite player older than him. The junior year highlights ramp up further but again don't have much to dig into in terms of notable matchups. There was a run stop against Ensworth, but Duke OL Caleb Dorris blocked another guy leaving Murray to a relative shrimp. Similarly, a run stop against Pace Academy was on a play not matched up against South Carolina OL signee Trovon Baugh. One neat play came against Ensworth when Dorris ran away from Murray, ostensibly because the run play was sweeping to the other side of the line, but Murray chased down the running back for a loss in no time.
This is quite an enigma. There's more to be excited about here than with Taylor's previous DL commitment, 2023 end of cycle class filler Braden Marceau-Olayinka but as with that case this is a guy with not a single service that rates him at the time of commitment, not a particularly attractive look for a Power Five team. However, one can reasonably scratch one's head about why that's the case with Murray. The plaudits Murray got in the showcases following his sophomore year would seem to have put him on radars and then he went out and had a productive junior year. Following his junior year he's gotten a dozen major college football offers in very short order. That seems easily lower tier Power Five level, so it's odd not to have any services rating him. I'm having trouble coming to a hypothesis (definitely don't have a sense to have more than that) on whether Murray's recruitment is best characterized as a late bloomer or undersized/tweener or a bit of both. One way to think about this may be that it's an odd recruitment to have close in March of the recruit's junior year. Perhaps Murray is the kind of recruit who will eventually be squarely viewed as a solid 3-star (I see obvious similarities with Zach Rowell) but we're getting this weird snapshot because Stanford offered/hauled him in earlier than was our previous norm for this kind of recruit. This isn't the kind of recruit who got an early offer under Shaw but he would have eventually gotten an offer. A pessimist's read would be that Taylor doesn't have an informed/high standard calibration of Power Five talent and offered prematurely. An optimist's would be that Taylor decisively assessed this guy would help and didn't dither. Given that we're talking about a DL and Koldziej has seen what he's seen/done what he's done at Wisconsin, I'm going to choose optimism. Murray plays with a motor and has been tough to block in high school and in postseason showcases. Stanford needs to bring in DL in significantly greater numbers to effectuate the scheme change we're looking at and, while I have questions about how much size is possible for him, it's good news to start giving Koldziej and Deatrick guys to work with.
Services: 247 composite NR, On3 consensus NR, 247 NR, On3 NR, Rivals NR, ESPN NR
Offers: Stanford, Appalachian State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Massachusetts, Memphis, Minnesota, Virginia, Wake Forest, Kansas, Liberty, UAB
Production: As a junior against below-average competition (bottom 27 percent of Stanford players), Murray was named Player of the Year in region 6-4A in Georgia (among all offensive and defensive players) and 4A all state. His team unfortunately does not do a great job reporting stats, reporting a bit less than half of the games from his junior year and only a couple of games from his sophomore year. Among what was reported for his junior year, he had 3.7 tackles per game (most among those with more than two games reported), 10 tackles for loss (next closest was 4), and 3 sacks (nobody else with more than one in those games). It was also interesting to see that in those games at least he was his team's second or third leading rusher, with 40.3 yards rushing per game on 6.7 yards per carry (most of anybody with more than ten carries) and nearly a touchdown per game (more than double the next closest in the reported stats). His freshman highlights claim 13 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in five games. In December 2021 he participated in the Georgia Elite Classic postseason all star game and was touted in one report as "maybe the biggest surprise of the week" "that came out of nowhere to dominate practices and played very well in the game as well." A few weeks later 247 named him as an honorable mention performer at the All American Bowl National Combine, making him the fifth to 13th most standout DL at an event that included 2023, 2024, 2025, and even some 2026 prospects; he was the top 2024 DL, with one 2026 also getting honorable mention. In track and field, Murray has a 46'2" personal record in the shot put and a 103' 3" in the discus. The shot put is middling and the discus is totally uncompetitive but very few meets are reported.
Highlights: Murray does not post single game highlights, aside from single highlights of touchdown runs and such, so I can't dig in like I normally would and need to work for these tidbits. His freshman, sophomore, and junior highlights all show him playing DE out of a four point stance, making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage on both pass and run plays and getting bigger and more dominant each year. The sophomore highlights also show a fair amount of him carrying the ball. Specific highlights that stood out were a tackle for loss against North Cobb Christian but not against Georgia Tech DL signee Gabe Fortson, who was playing center and thus not matched up against Murray, and a tackle for loss against Eagle's Landing Christian Academy after holding his ground/eventually shedding LSU whale OL signee DJ Chester (whose own highlights show three or four pass block sets against Murray). That latter game tape would be the one to get a hold of to see Murray against an elite player older than him. The junior year highlights ramp up further but again don't have much to dig into in terms of notable matchups. There was a run stop against Ensworth, but Duke OL Caleb Dorris blocked another guy leaving Murray to a relative shrimp. Similarly, a run stop against Pace Academy was on a play not matched up against South Carolina OL signee Trovon Baugh. One neat play came against Ensworth when Dorris ran away from Murray, ostensibly because the run play was sweeping to the other side of the line, but Murray chased down the running back for a loss in no time.
This is quite an enigma. There's more to be excited about here than with Taylor's previous DL commitment, 2023 end of cycle class filler Braden Marceau-Olayinka but as with that case this is a guy with not a single service that rates him at the time of commitment, not a particularly attractive look for a Power Five team. However, one can reasonably scratch one's head about why that's the case with Murray. The plaudits Murray got in the showcases following his sophomore year would seem to have put him on radars and then he went out and had a productive junior year. Following his junior year he's gotten a dozen major college football offers in very short order. That seems easily lower tier Power Five level, so it's odd not to have any services rating him. I'm having trouble coming to a hypothesis (definitely don't have a sense to have more than that) on whether Murray's recruitment is best characterized as a late bloomer or undersized/tweener or a bit of both. One way to think about this may be that it's an odd recruitment to have close in March of the recruit's junior year. Perhaps Murray is the kind of recruit who will eventually be squarely viewed as a solid 3-star (I see obvious similarities with Zach Rowell) but we're getting this weird snapshot because Stanford offered/hauled him in earlier than was our previous norm for this kind of recruit. This isn't the kind of recruit who got an early offer under Shaw but he would have eventually gotten an offer. A pessimist's read would be that Taylor doesn't have an informed/high standard calibration of Power Five talent and offered prematurely. An optimist's would be that Taylor decisively assessed this guy would help and didn't dither. Given that we're talking about a DL and Koldziej has seen what he's seen/done what he's done at Wisconsin, I'm going to choose optimism. Murray plays with a motor and has been tough to block in high school and in postseason showcases. Stanford needs to bring in DL in significantly greater numbers to effectuate the scheme change we're looking at and, while I have questions about how much size is possible for him, it's good news to start giving Koldziej and Deatrick guys to work with.