It's now 30 days until the kickoff of Catamount football on Thursday, September 3th, 2020 at 7 pm, against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, in Roy Kid Stadium, Richmond, KY.
To help pass those long summer days, and hopefully get the Catamount faithful more excited about the upcoming season, and knowledgeable of the team members, we'll continue the football countdown each day until kickoff day.
Today we'll highlight another linebacker:
#30 Michael Murphy
POSITION Spur LB
HEIGHT 6-2
WEIGHT 200
CLASS Redshirt Senior
HOMETOWN Spartanburg, S.C.
HIGH SCHOOL Spartanburg HS
2019 (Redshirt Junior): Started all 12 games in the defensive secondary at hybrid defensive back/linebacker … Finished fourth on the team with 69 total tackles including 29 solo stops and 4.5 tackles for loss with one sack … Posted five-or-more tackles in eight of the 12 games … Twice posted double-digit tackles, matching his career-high for a third time with 12 stops against Gardner-Webb (Oct. 5) to go along with his fourth career interception and A forced fumble … Was credited with 11 tackles in the road win at VMI (Nov. 2).
2018 (Redshirt Sophomore): Started all 11 games in the defensive secondary … Finished third on the team with 92 tackles on the year with 40 solo stops including five tackles for loss with 1.5 sacks … His 8.4 tackle per game average ranked him eighth in the Southern Conference … Recorded at least six total tackles in each of WCU’s 11 games including twice posting double-digit tackles including a career-high 12 total hits twice – at Samford (Oct. 6) and against Wofford (Nov. 10) … Posted two TFLs against the Terriers … Tallied three interceptions on the year … Returned his first career interception 46 yards for a touchdown that proved to be the difference-maker in the 52-50 home win over VMI (Sept. 22) … Also posted INTs in overtime at ETSU (Oct. 27) and at North Carolina (Nov. 17), returning the latter a career-long 70 yards to set-up a WCU score … Also forced a fumble with a pair of recoveries at Samford (Oct. 6) and against The Citadel (Nov. 3) ... Named to the 2018-19 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
2017 (Redshirt Freshman): Saw action in all 12 of the team's games as a defensive substitution and on special teams ... Finished the year with 22 tackles including eight solo stops and two tackles for loss, one as a sack ... Had at least one tackle in every game ... Added a quarterback hurry and a pair of pass breakups ... Made his collegiate debut at Hawai'i (Sept. 2), tallying his first career tackle ... Recorded a career-high four tackles including a sack and a forced fumble in the road win over VMI (Oct. 21) ... Selected to the Southern Conference All-Freshman team by the league's head coach ... Named to the 2017-18 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll ... Forced a fumble and recorded a sack in WCU's annual Spring Game.
2016 (Freshman): Did not see game action ... Credited with two tackles including one for a four-yard loss in WCU's annual Spring Game.
Prior to Western Carolina: Was an All-Region II-4A selection and named second-team All-Herald-Journal/GoUpstate All-Area team ... Recorded 43 tackles with four interceptions and three pass breakups as a senior ... Was part of the 2014 South Carolina state championship team as a junior in 2014, finishing with 88 tackles and three interceptions from his safety position ... Was cited as one of the top 10 defensive backs at an EPT Football Skills Showcase prior to this senior year ... Listed as a two-star prospect from Rivals.com ... High school coach was Chris Miller ... Was a four-year starter in boy's basketball as a prep, earning MVP honors in 2014.
Personal: Full name is Michael Anthony Murphy Jr., and goes by "Mike" ... Is the son of Michael Sr. and Tamika Murphy ... Has two siblings, Malik and Mekhi.
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