Clemson football: Myles Murphy grades out as ‘elite’ heading into 2021

The Clemson football program has one of the most elite edge-rushers in the country on its hands in sophomore DE Myles Murphy.

As a freshman, Murphy finished the 2020 season with 38 total tackles, four sacks and three forced fumbles.

Pro Football Focus recently shared its highest-grading freshmen from last year as we continue to amp up for the 2021 season and Murphy was in the top-five.

Murphy was the lone defender on the top-five list and he ranked No. 4 in the nation in terms of PFF grades. Atop the list was Oklahoma WR Marvin Mins followed by RB Deuce Vaughn on Kansas State, RB Frank Gore Jr. at Southern Miss and then Auburn RB Tank Bigsby rounding out the list.

Clemson football is in good hands when it comes to the pass-rushing department, led by Myles Murphy

The only way to accurately describe how Murphy plays is to call him a ‘monster.’ That term gets overused a lot and we see analysts throw it around far too often, but it absolutely applies to Murphy.

At 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, Murphy has every measurable that you could desire out of a defensive end. He is able to set a hard-edge and uses his power and strength to create negative-yardage plays.

What’s so impressive about him is his versatility. Murphy lined up on the inside at times and played outside on the edge most of the time. He overpowered matchups and he was able to use his athleticism in the pass-rush as well.

That was all done as a freshman.

Now that Murphy is a year into the system and he’s had more time to develop both in the weight room and in learning the playbook, we should expect him to come out with an even more confident approach in Year 2.

If that’s the case and he continues to build on the season he set forth as a freshman, Clemson fans are in for a real treat and that’s really all we can say. The sky is the limit for Murphy when looking at his potential and it’s going to be interesting to see what he’s able to do this coming fall.