2020 RB Tirek Murphy Still Liking Notre Dame Despite Denson Departure

Tirek Murphy Jr.‍ is getting busy preparing for his senior season at Christ The King while college coaches are looking even further down the road toward the 2020 New York running back’s career at the next level.

The 6-foot, 193-pounder already has offers from schools like Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Duke, LSU, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas A&M among others.

He’s also heard from other schools, including Miami and South Carolina.

“Coach Thomas Brown used to be the running backs coach at Miami,” Murphy explained. “He’s currently the running backs coach at South Carolina. Me and him talk a lot.”

Murphy had been talking with former Notre Dame running back coach Autry Denson consistently and despite his shock at learning Denson had left to take the head coaching job at Charleston Southern, said Denson’s departure won’t impact him much.

“It really doesn’t affect the way I look at them because I already know his replacement is probably going to be just as good as him,” said Murphy. “Notre Dame is known for that stuff. I’m not really worried about it. I know his replacement is going to be a high-caliber guy too.”

The talented junior saw the Irish beat Syracuse in Yankee Stadium back in November and said he is currently working on setting up a trip to South Bend.

“I want to be around their players,” he said. “I want to see a practice too, I want to see how fast their practice is. I want to meet their o-line too because I might be playing with some of them if I do decide to go to Notre Dame.”

He’s also looking at trips to Alabama, Clemson and LSU.

Michigan figures to be in the mix until the end, especially now that his former Boston College recruiter, Anthony Campanile, is on staff in Ann Arbor.

“Michigan is one of my top schools,” Murphy said. “(Campanile) and my offensive coordinator are very close. Going to Michigan wouldn’t really be a shock because I have a lot of connections with Coach (Chris) Partridge and Coach Campanile.”

Christ The King began team workouts and meetings recently, but Murphy’s personal workouts had already been well underway.

“I want to win a state championship my senior year,” he said. “That’s my main goal right now. I’m not really worried about myself too much. I’m just focused on my team.

“I want to go both ways my senior year, so I can probably work on my defensive skills a little bit more. Also, I want to run for 2,000 my senior year. I’m trying to go big my senior year. I’m trying to get faster. I’ve already got the strength and size.”