Jerome Murphy Scouting Report

Jerome Murphy was not a starter until his redshirt junior season, but he has turned into one of the best corners in the Big East Conference. Murphy has slowly been building up his resume over the years and has progressively gotten better and better. As a freshman he recorded 20 tackles; that number jumped up to 38 in 2007 when he also earned his first start. Murphy even picked off two passes that year. As a junior he intercepted two passes as well, but he also started 11 games and tallied an impressive 67 tackles. Most opponents try to avoid Murphy now and his numbers in 2009 have suffered a little because of that. However, through seven games Murphy still ranks third on the team with 31 tackles and has already intercepted two passes. At 6-1 and 192 pounds, Murphy has more size than most corners and that will keep him in the mix as one of the better corners in the draft. There are a lot of quality junior cornerbacks who are draft eligible; for Murphy it may depend on how many of them opt to go to the NFL a year early, if he wants to get drafted early on. As far as seniors are concerned, right now Murphy should be considered one of the top ten or 15 corners on the board and that should place him in third round. 1/24 Update: Murphy is shooting up most draft boards after finishing off his senior season with 77 tackles, four interceptions and a team high eight pass breakups. However, with players like Donovan Warren out of Michigan heading to the NFL early, Murphy is still probably a third round draft pick. If he can separate himself from the pack leading up to draft day, he could sneak into the second round (but he could just as easily fall back to the fourth round).