Welcome to the eleventh annual Catamount Football "100 days to Football Kickoff Countdown".
During the countdown, we'll highlight the player whose number corresponds to that day in the countdown. 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 Saturday.
Since the official 2021 Catamount Football Roster has not yet been published, we'll use the 2021 Catamount Football Preseason Roster for jersey numbers until the new roster is posted, at which point we'll switch to the official roster for the remainder of the countdown.
It's now 67 days until the kickoff of Catamount football on Saturday, September 4th, 2021, against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, in E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field, Cullowhee, NC.
No player is currently assigned to #67, so we will highlight another assistance coach:
Larry Murphy
Larry Murphy joined the Catamount football defensive coaching staff in the spring of 2021 where he will coach the cornerbacks. Murphy came to Cullowhee after two years at Tusculum University in Greeneville, Tenn., where he held a similar role.
In his first season at Tusculum, Murphy mentored a pair of All-South Atlantic Conference (SAC) honorees including Dee Alford and Malik Goodman. Alford also garnered All-Region accolades and later signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. In the abbreviated 2021 season, Murphy helped Tusculum to a 4-1 overall record and dethroned Lenoir-Rhyne by claiming the 2021 SAC Spring Football Championship, the first for the Pioneers since 2008.
Under Murphy’s guidance, Tusculum freshman defensive back Jermaine Witherspoon collected a pair of interceptions including one in the title game, adding a pair of breakups on the spring season.
Originally from St. Petersburg, Fla., Murphy served as the cornerbacks coach at Valdosta State University in 2018 where he helped current Catamount head coach Kerwin Bell guide the Blazers to an undefeated season (14-0) and a NCAA Division II national title. VSU also won the Gulf South Conference crown as the Blazer secondary ranked eighth in the nation in passes intercepted and ninth in red zone defense. VSU led the nation in defensive touchdowns with seven.
Murphy originally signed to play football at Georgia Southern and was out of football until his return to the gridiron in 2014 where he was a three-year starter at Valdosta State (2014-2016) at cornerback. He finished his career with 62 total tackles, 13 passes defended, two interceptions, forced two fumbles and recovered another. He garnered 2014 USA Football All-American honors and was named to the All-Gulf South Conference team that same year.
Murphy is a 2018 graduate of Valdosta State.
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