MURPHY STRUGGLES, BUT RELATIONSHIP WITH HICKS BUILDS
Hicks has told us multiple times that he has a strong bond with Murphy, even though the two had never met in person. They finally got that chance on Saturday, and they were able to build upon what objectively appears to be a pretty strong friendship built over the last several months.
From the looks and sounds of it, it really didn’t appear like Hicks was trying to push the Buckeyes onto Murphy, and that’s not Hicks’ strategy as a peer recruiter anyway.
“I’m not trying to force him to come to Ohio State, come to Ohio State, come to Ohio State,” Hicks said. “I’m just keeping it open. I’m not gonna try to force it and tell you what school to come to, but if you wanna be great, like I’m telling everybody else, come be a part of BIA.”
Those comments were in reference to Hicks recruiting Murphy from afar. Murphy told Eleven Warriors that Hicks is in his ear about Ohio State “damn near every day,” but it’s typically just consistent, subtle reminders about what the Buckeyes offer.
On the field Saturday, though, it was just two of the best linebackers in the 2022 class getting after it and competing and having fun in the first competitive camp setting any of the hundreds of players at the event have had in a long time.
Hicks and Murphy, in that order, competed back-to-back in every single drill throughout the day. It may not have been purposely set up for them to compete one after the other, but it provided for some good entertainment and a good gauge of each athlete.
“It’s a fun, competitive way,” Murphy said. “We just play around, but we do our thing. We just work real hard, but we’re just playing around and having fun with it because that’s what you’re supposed to do. It felt real good. It felt real natural.”
Added Hicks: “We were just talking in line and just competing, saying ‘I do the drill better than you’ or ‘you ain’t gonna do the drill better than me.’”
Throughout the day, Murphy did not look like himself, as he was unable to get solid footing in the three-cone drill that tested lateral agility, not showing much burst in the 40 and dropping some passes thrown his way during drills.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see his ranking drop a bit after the camp, but there’s a reason Murphy has been offered by 43 programs, including Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas and USC.
Murphy showcases his athleticism, agility and hard-hitting nature on film, and it’s why he will remain the top linebacker target for the Buckeyes and many other programs despite an uneven one-day camp performance. That’s also why he earned an invitation to the Future 50 and Under Armour All-America Game in addition to Hicks.