The NFL Draft kicks off with its opening round on April 27 in Kansas City, so Rivals is taking a look back at its projected first-round picks when they were high school prospects. We move on to our projected No. 18 – Clemson defensive end Myles Murphy, who was ranked fourth overall in the 2020 Rivals250.
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No. 18: DE Myles Murphy, Clemson
Where they were ranked: The Powder Springs (Ga.) Hillgrove five-star was the top-ranked strongside defensive end in the 2020 class and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Georgia while finishing fourth overall behind Clemson teammate Bryan Bresee and five-star quarterbacks Bryce Young and D.J. Uiagalelei.
Recruitment: After landing offers from across the country with Georgia first and Auburn second and then so many others coming along the way, it came down to Auburn and Clemson for the five-star defensive end. In May before his senior season, Murphy picked Clemson and cited the success the Tigers had with developing defensive linemen as one of many reasons why they won out in his recruitment.
Biggest question: He’s sudden, he has awesome length and the physical tools to be special but does Murphy have a plan going into each play and does he have an inside move?
Memories: I’ll always remember Murphy being about his business, not the hype, not putting everything on social media and not seeking attention at every event he ever went to. The opposite was actually true with the five-star defensive end who just wanted to perform, get better and focus on what was important.
He was terrific at the Rivals events over the years including a loaded Rivals Five-Star Challenge in Atlanta where he just looked like the epitome of what an elite defensive end should look like: Long, athletic, aggressive, no bad weight.
At the All-American Bowl, Murphy had his way with five-star offensive lineman Myles Hinton during 1-on-1s and then split against another five-star in Paris Johnson, Jr. Murphy used an impressive push-pull move against both of them that worked but concerns over a range of moves was seen even then when he’d go outside and if that didn’t work (it usually did) the five-star didn’t have much of a counter.
From a physical standpoint, Murphy is elite. From a production standpoint where he finished with 18.5 sacks in three years at Clemson, that’s phenomenal. He will need to develop a basket of moves, though, against NFL offensive tackles because one-trick ponies don’t get very far in the league.
