Five-star LB commit Shawn Murphy a 'perfect fit' for Alabama

The way Carroll Walker saw it, he was going to be a genius or a complete idiot. Normally, the Virginia high school coach doesn’t like handing out starting roles to freshmen. Then again, it isn’t too often he gets his hands on a player quite like Shawn Murphy.

Even back then the five-star linebacker was something special. Walker remembers watching Murphy obliterate his middle-school opposition in youth football. By the time the young defender hit high school, the head coach had no choice.

Walker remembers testing out Murphy in a junior-varsity scrimmage prior to his freshman season. It was the equivalent of inserting a shark into a swimming pool. After watching the star defender swallow up ball carrier after ball carrier, it was obvious he was ready for the next level.

“I told myself, I’m going to take a chance as a coach and use this kid right away,” Walker said. “My thing was it might blow up in my face or I’m going to make one of the best moves of my career.”

Three years later, it’s clear Walker made the right call.

Murphy is currently rated as the No. 1 inside linebacker and No. 26 overall player in the nation. Sunday, he took the next step in his career, committing to Alabama over Florida, LSU, Ohio State and Penn State.

Now Walker says it’s the Crimson Tide’s turn to be blown away by Murphy’s ability to pursue the football.

“It’s a perfect fit,” Walker said. “The way Alabama plays and how they play aggressive, that’s him all day long. It’s such a good fit for him. The energy that he’s going to bring and the confidence that he has is going to be huge for them. He has that Alabama touch. He’s very dependable. You know he’s going to be there every time. He’s never going to take a play off. He has that mindset of a Tide linebacker.

Murphy currently plays inside linebacker for his high school. However, Walker believes the 6-foot-2, 222-pound defender could also contribute on the outside at the next level depending on how he continues to fill out.

Then again, it might not matter. Murphy tends to end up in the same place regardless of where he lines up before the whistle.

“He has a knack for getting to the ball,” Walker said. “He wants to make that tackle. He has that drive and no one is getting in his way. The craziest thing is how he can change directions and find the football.

“He penetrates the hole well and picks kids up. He tries to get them off their feet and get a good shot on them. He plays to knock you out, and I like that about him.”

While Walker embraces Murphy’s hard-hitting approach now, it was once a cause of some concern.

The head coach said he used to hold his breath a bit early on in Murphy’s career as the young defender fearlessly crashed into older players. Back then, the linebacker weighed in at roughly 150 pounds, 70 pounds lighter than he is currently listed.

“He was so aggressive, but he was bony,” Walker said. “I told him, ‘You need to get some more muscle if you are going to be hitting kids like that.’”

Murphy slowly began to put on weight during his sophomore season. However the bulk of his transformation came after he was introduced to trainer Raymond Washington during the offseason before his junior year.

Washington, the general manager of United Fitness Training at United Sportsplex in Manassas, Va., said he was initially intrigued by Murphy’s athletic ability but didn’t fully buy into the hype until he saw the defender’s drive off the field.

“When I saw how committed he was, I just threw everything at him,” Washington said. “We created a nutrition plan, a workout regiment, and he was in here committed every day making sure he was putting in everything into it. When I saw he was able to meet one challenge, I wanted to make sure to break that mold and move on to the next one.

“He would just continue to beat the challenge every single time. It was amazing to watch.”

These days Murphy is his own best motivation. Washington admits it’s getting difficult to find competition for the star linebacker during workouts. Although, that hasn’t stopped Murphy from coming up with new ways to raise the bar.

“We’ll be doing sled press, and he’ll be pushing anywhere from 400-500 pounds,” Washington said. “Once he started moving across the turf, he’d turn and say, ‘OK let’s time it.’ Then he’d move a little bit faster and he’d ask for more weight. Then he’d move even faster. One thing about Shawn is that he not only loves a challenge but he’s always making sure he’s doing his best.”

Washington has trained with multiple professional athletes, including former Dallas Cowboys receiver Lucky Whitehead and former Washington Football Team cornerback Greg Stroman. At this rate, he believes it’s only a matter of time until Murphy finds himself playing on Sundays as well.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it or fluff it up in any way,” Washington said. “I’ve had some great athletes, guys who have played at the NFL level. He’s literally right in the mix with every single one of them. Just from his work ethic, leadership and his drive to get stronger, everything overall, I feel like he’s right in that same mix. His body shows it. His power, his knowledge from studying in the film room, it’s all showing now.”

Alabama won’t have to wait long to witness Murphy's potential first-hand as he is set to enroll early next year. If recent history is any indication, the star linebacker won’t waste much time working his way into the Tide’s defensive plans.

“He’s going to be ready,” Walker said. “He’s going to go in there ready to work and ready to make a difference. He’s built perfectly for Alabama.”

"Murphy is a five-star for a lot of reasons. He's an excellent middle linebacker who can blitz, time up the snap, shed blocks to attack the ball carrier and he's an aggressive tackler who can track players to the sideline and get them on the ground. He's not playing elite competition every single game so there might be an adjustment there playing linebacker in the SEC but Murphy has great size, looks fantastic in person, moves well in coverage, can play in space and loves to play with a physical nature. He should be a great fit for the Crimson Tide.”- Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney