By: Jacob Eisenberg
When Mark Murphy arrived in Bloomington, Indiana as a freshman in 2011, he simply looked too small to be an effective football player. He weighed just 190 pounds at a position where massive muscles were thought to be necessary. Regardless of his size, Murphy immediately dispelled concerns and earned a reputation around the practice field within his first weeks on campus for being the scrawny linebacker who was consistently tackling players who appeared to be twice his size.
Fast forward to 2014 and the once-undersized Murphy has bulked up to 210 pounds and has yet to miss a game as a Hoosier through nearly four full seasons. In fact, Murphy became so dependable for Indiana from the outset that his coach, Kevin Wilson, ultimately decided to move his position to shore up the team’s weak spot in the secondary.
Murphy has not disappointed in spite of the positional adjustment, as he has recorded two interceptions in this season alone. Murphy’s best highlight on the field came on November 8th when he intercepted a pass against Penn State and returned it 47 yards for the touchdown. Still, it’s Murphy’s consistent production that makes him such as special player. As of November 2014, Murphy had recorded nearly 300 tackles in his four-year career at Indiana – ranking him third among all active defenders in the Big Ten.
Murphy’s father starred at safety with the Green Bay Packers for 12 seasons and has gone on to become an Assistant Dean and Defensive Backs Coach for St. Vincent – St. Mary’s High School in Ohio, where he coached none other than LeBron James just over a decade ago.
And while football runs in the Murphy family’s DNA, it’s Mark’s brain that will open doors in whatever career he would like to pursue after college. While Murphy surely has plenty of responsibilities as a leader on the football team (one player told Indystar.com that Murphy calls plays on defense in much the same way a quarterback coordinates the offense), the 22-year-old prides himself on working just as hard in the classroom as he does on the gridiron.
Murphy majors in informatics – the science of applied computing – and while he acknowledged to Indystar.com that "[t[here are a few classes where, I mean, you just feel overwhelmed," Murphy has not let the challenges affect his grades. He’s managed to carry an incredible 3.85 GPA into his senior year.
Now Murphy is one of 17 finalists for the prestigious Campbell Trophy – awarded to the sport’s top scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation and is mulling several opportunities after football is over. In the near future, Murphy will have to decide between accepting a post-graduate scholarship to further his research or start filling out applications for law school.
Murphy’s course-load, consisting of classes such as “Informatics 399: Research Methods” may one day pave the way to a successful career evaluating football prospects for an NFL team someday – an opportunity Murphy admits he’d “absolutely” be interested in.
Still, in the interim, Murphy is focused on finishing up his career at Indiana with a bang: "I've said I'll figure out what I'm doing once the last play is snapped and filmed," Murphy told Indystar.com.
"I've always been interested in figuring out stuff, figuring out problems and trying to solve situations. It's something I fell into, and I do enjoy it."