7/3/2021 football Edit

Five-star LB Shawn Murphy includes Gators in final five

Corey Bender • 1standTenFlorida

Publisher

Five-star prospect Shawn Murphy dished out his top-five schools on Saturday evening, and as expected, the University of Florida was included on the list.

In addition to the Gators, the 6-foot-1, 209-pound Murphy is also heavily considering offers from LSU, Alabama, Ohio State and Penn State.

Murphy, the No. 1 inside linebacker in the 2022 class, recently logged another visit to Gainesville and spent multiple days familiarizing himself with the program. His connection with linebackers coach Christian Robinson is a major reason why the Gators are near the very top of his list, but the top-25 prospect also had an eye-opening experience when learning the ins and outs of UF's standards in the classroom.

"This was more of a full visit so I got to see the whole campus, the housing, the facilities, academics, and football," Murphy previously said about UF when speaking with Rivals' Adam Friedman. "I got to speak a lot with coach Robinson and then the next day I got an individual workout. That was really good.

"I got learned how big on academics the University of Florida is. I also got to see a lot of different learning styles and I learned that they are big on tutors and making sure all your classes are set up right for you. On the football side, I learned how they do their defense. I learned a lot of techniques that coach Robinson likes to put his players through.

"I got to see coach Robinson for the first time in a long time. The last time I saw him we didn't have much to speak about because it was my first time meeting and so this time this time was great to finally catch up instead of just talking over the phone and doing zooms and stuff like that. It was a great experience and he's actually who he is.

"The next day I got my individual workout with coach Rob. He had me doing coverage drills and downhill running drills. It was a whole different set of drills so I could get a feel of how things are."

If all goes as planned, Murphy will be taking all five official visits during the fall. As for the Gators, a date has yet to be scheduled and that might be the case with the additional four finalists as well.

Moving forward, the Rivals100 defender will now shift his focus to the 2021 season before putting pen to paper later this year.

While the majority of the 2022 class focused solely on recruiting during the month of June, Murphy made multiple stops on the camp circuit and certainly backed up his strong repuation, including at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge in Atlanta.

"The camp setting does not showcase all the skills that make up the linebacker position, but it can highlight those linebackers who are explosive and have outstanding spatial awareness. Murphy is likely headed for the middle linebacker position in college, but his ability to run with backs and tight ends through their routes put him in contention for position MVP honors on Thursday," said Rivals' Josh Helmholdt.

Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, Auburn and Texas are some additional offers on the table for the No. 26 player overall.