Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/433715
MURPHY'S LAW I n his own small way, James Franklin had a hand in creating one of the bigger challenges Penn State will face when it takes on Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. Franklin was head coach at Vanderbilt last year when the Commodores traveled to Gainesville late in the season to face SEC East rival Florida. Leading the Gators' offense that day was a junior quarterback named Tyler Murphy. Mur- phy had taken over for injured starter Jeff Driskel earlier in the season, and while he had enjoyed some initial success, leading Florida to victories over Ten- nessee, Kentucky and Arkansas, he had suffered a shoulder injury in week six against LSU, and that's when everything started to fall apart. Murphy continued to play, but his shoul- der hurt so badly he could barely take his pads off after games. Cortisone shots deadened the pain, but that only made things worse. "I couldn't tell whether I was throwing hard or soft," he told ESPN.com. "It was a guessing game how much [velocity] to put on the ball." Struggling just to stay on the field, Mur- phy threw three interceptions against Vanderbilt, all of which led to touchdowns. Florida lost, 34-17, its fourth consecutive defeat. After the game, coach Will Muschamp decided to pull Murphy in favor of redshirt freshman Skyler Morn- hinweg. It was the end of his season. It was also the end of his career with the Gators. Murphy had one season of el- igibility remaining, but because he had already graduated, he didn't have to use it at Florida; he could transfer without having to sit out a year. A Wethersfield, Conn., native, Murphy had wanted to play for Boston College coming out of high school. The Eagles weren't interested at the time, but that was before Steve Addazio took over as head coach. Addazio had previously served as offensive coordinator at Florida, and it was on his recommendation that Urban Meyer decided to take a chance on the lightly recruited prospect in 2010. This time, with Addazio looking to fill the vacancy left by graduated starter Chase Rettig, all the pieces fell into place at BC. The second-year coach was happy to wel- come Murphy to Chestnut Hill, and he's even happier now that the fifth-year senior is getting set to wrap up a historic season with the Eagles. Simply put, Murphy has been a marvel. A run-pass threat, he leads the Eagles in both categories, having rushed for 1,079 yards and passed for 1,526 in helping lift them to a 7-5 regular-season record. His rushing total set a single-season Atlantic Coast Conference record for quarterbacks, and it also smashed Doug Flutie's school record for most career rushing yards by a QB. In Boston College's biggest win of the season, a 37-31 upset of ninth-ranked USC in September, Murphy rushed for 191 yards on only 13 carries. It's been a dazzling final act for the late- blooming QB. But as far as the Eagles are concerned, all that yardage is simply a means to an end. "If you were to ask him, he would say [he'll do] whatever it takes to win," Addazio said. "Whether we throw it 100, run it 100, [he'll do] whatever it takes to win, because that's the kind of competitor he is." A year ago, Franklin got a good look at | Tyler Murphy keeps Eagles' oense moving