Murphy Hopes for QB Position at Fordham University

Griffin Murphy was flying high after his senior season at in Shrewsbury after leading the team to a Division IA Super Bowl title and winning the team MVP Award.

Yet, fate had a different path for Murphy in his freshman season earlier this year at Fordham University, where he enrolled with intentions of playing quarterback for the Rams’ varsity football team.

In the summer before his freshman year at Fordham, Murphy suffered a major setback when he tore his hamstring and was forced to sit out for the season with a medical redshirt.

“I definitely would have had a chance [to play this season],” said Murphy, who was naturally disappointed about the injury. “For most of the summer, I was nursing [the injury]. I pulled it once in the beginning of the summer, and I nursed it for about five, six weeks, and it was still lingering. It was actually the first official practice of camp; I just ran a sprint, and I went down.”

The devastating injury would hold Murphy out of contention for the Rams’ starting quarterback position, which for a competitive player like Murphy, was frustrating.

“I was definitely really disappointed because I was excited to come here and have a chance to start right away,” he said. “Most of all, all that hard work over the summer went down the drain.”

Murphy nursed his way back to health midway through the season, but was never able to compete for the starting job under center.

“Halfway through the season I was practicing again, but I wasn’t on the roster,” Murphy said. “I was only dressing for home games once I was healthy.”

During his recovery process, Murphy was able to learn the ropes at Fordham, and more importantly, had time to learn the offense, which is vital for a quarterback.

“Once you understand the offense and know what you’re doing, everything just slows down and gets a lot easier,” Murphy said. “If you know what you’re doing, and you know the offense, your ability automatically takes over.”

All throughout, the Rams’ quarterbacks took Murphy under their wing.

“We had two kids that played [quarterback] this year,” Murphy said. “Blake Wayne started the season and Ryan Higgins finished off the season because Blake got injured.”

Entering next season, Murphy said his main competition for the starting position is Higgins, as the school intends to move Wayne to wide receiver. Still, both Wayne and Higgins were very helpful to Murphy.

“They were really helpful to me, they kind of just took me under their wing and helped me out a lot to just learn the offense,” Murphy said.

Even though Murphy hasn’t set foot on the field on game day, he can already tell that there are major difference between college football and playing football at the high school level.

“The number one thing at the quarterback position, you need to know everything,” Murphy said. “In high school, the defenses mainly just play a cover two, cover three. Here, there are so many different defenses you have to know and recognize. There are so many offensive plays too. There’s literally like three times as many plays in our playbook than there was in high school.”

It’s been difficult for Murphy to adapt and learn the playbook, but he’s started to come around.

“It’s really hard,” he said. “I’ve been struggling to learn the offense, but we’re about nine practices into spring ball and I’ve really gotten the hang of it so far.”

Once Murphy is on his game, it’s clear from his days at St. John’s that he can be a dominant force in the league.

Murphy was named to the All-State team in 2009 by the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald as well as being selected to the Massachusetts Coaches Association Super 26 team.

The then-senior captain led the Pioneers to a Division I-A Super Bowl title in 2009, setting school record for a single season after completing 132-of-240 passes for 2,109 yards and 28 touchdowns. Murphy also led St. John’s in rushing, racking up 696 yards on 92 carries.

“St. John’s is a great school,” Murphy said. “It’s just so competitive at St. John’s that everybody wants to get out there and compete every day. Practices there were a lot like the practices out here at Fordham, just the way they’re set up and the intensity. It’s definitely prepared me very well.”

Murphy received a welcome surprise when he learned that an old friend and current senior quarterback at St. John’s, Dan Light, would be enrolling at Fordham University and playing football alongside him.

“He’s not coming here to play quarterback, he’s coming here to play tight end, but I couldn’t be more excited when I found out Dan committed,” Murphy said. “First of all, I was just happy to have someone from my high school team to play with that I can relate well with.”

With Light at his side and a fresh slate ahead of him, Murphy is very confident in his ability to return to form and compete for the starting job at Fordham going forward.

“Right now, I’m really confident,” Murphy said. “I definitely think I can lead this team. Once I got the offense down to a T, there won’t be any questions. I’m just really excited.”