Henri Murphy Hoping to Use His Status as One of the Speediest Hokies to Boost Tech's Offense

The Hokies' new coaching staff may be plenty secretive, but there's one piece of intel that's leaked out of the locker room so far: new WR Henri Murphy might be the fastest player on the team.

His quarterback has certainly been the source of some of those whispers.

"Speed," Jerod Evans said after practice Tuesday. "He brings speed."

Murphy holds the 4A Arkansas state record for the 100-meter dash. His time? A blazing 10.7 seconds. To put that into perspective, Usain Bolt ran a 9.81 at the Olympics this summer.

That sort of speed could prove to be quite the difference-maker for Justin Fuente's new offense.

"Of course I bring a lot of speed to the offense," Murphy said. "(In the) open field, I can make a lot of plays."

Evans even remembers noticing that speed in one of his first games of catch with Murphy.

"When he came in in the summer, he liked deep balls," Evans said. "Of course a lot of wide receivers love deep balls for some reason. He told me to throw a post. I was like, 'OK, I'm gonna make you run.' I threw it almost as far as I could and he just ran right underneath it. I went 'Woah.'"

Even before he got to campus, he was already hearing that he should race cornerback/return man Greg Stroman. He happily obliged.

"I think I've raced the fastest guy of my life, Greg Stroman," Murphy said. "I raced Greg Stroman like a couple of weeks after I got here. A few weeks before I got here, they were saying how fast he was and how it would be a good race between me and him. I just wanted to see it, because growing up I never lost a race. I didn't have (any) pressure on me at all. I was just like, 'Let's race.' We raced out there in the indoor (practice facility) and I beat him. I beat him by two steps. He was there."

Only one man has since issued a challenge. But Murphy's response may be a bit of a surprise.

"'Rell (Terrell Edmunds) wanted to race me, too," Murphy said. "But I said, 'Na, I'm good.'"

Murphy only got to show off that speed of his sparingly against Liberty, running once for three yards and catching a 12-yard pass, but WRs coach Holmon Wiggins foresees him increasing his role against Tennessee and beyond if he can add a little substance to that speed.

"Well we ask those guys to do a little bit of everything," Wiggins said. "Those guys have to be complete receivers. They're gonna have to run the ball, they're gonna have to block on the perimeter, they're gonna have to catch the ball. We ask them to do it all. It's not necessarily sitting there saying, 'OK, well, you're a receiver because you run routes.'"

"Catch all of 'em. Block harder. Finish. Strain. That's not what it's supposed to look like. Not just him, it's all of those guys. As a collective unit, we have to do better."

Indeed, Wiggins is hoping to see more when it comes to blocking from more than just Murphy next week, and he didn't hold back in his assessment of his unit's efforts on that front in the season opener.

"In my opinion, horrible," Wiggins said. "We need to get better. We're working on that this week. We're gonna have to finish and strain a whole lot harder this week to kind of get things done."

Holmon Wiggins

ON HENRI MURPHY:

"He's a little bit of a country bumpkin, being from Arkansas. He has a great personality. There's no doubt that when you watch him run, you can tell that he was born to do that. He was the kid that we actually recruited out of high school. Had him come to camp with us (Memphis). I was there and worked him out and I saw it for myself. So when we had the luxury to get him back we knew that he could help. Especially with where we're at at receiver. We were gonna try to get him here because he was athletic, he could run and play the ball well. He adds a lot of toughness."

ON THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS WITH MURPHY:

"Coach (James) Shibest actually recruited him out of high school being from the Arkansas area. He was a kid that actually came to camp with us. We kind of knew of him, knew he played a little bit of defense, little bit of offense and he could run. He was a little bit raw. Ended up having to go through the JUCO ranks. But there was a little history with us and him and I think that's what brought him here to Virginia Tech."

ON IF HE KNEW HOW GAME READY MURPHY WOULD BE:

"We didn't (know). I knew of him the last time I worked him out, I said, 'Ya know what? He's gonna be good, but only time will tell when he will be game ready.' So when he came it was kind of hold onto your hat and figure out where he was. (We) watched him kind of run around and get the flow of the game and what we were throwing at him. I felt like this is gonna be a guy that can help us right now."

ON APPRECIATING THE EXPERIENCE OF THE BATTLE AT BRISTOL:

"You really don't get time to. Our job is to kind of get these guys ready. We feel like we're already behind the eight ball with the fact that (Tennessee) had a longer week to actually prepare for us. So we're trying to get these guys ready. We're throwing some stuff on the walls and seeing what we can pick up and what those guys can attain. Trying to get out there and play fast. It was a humid day (Tuesday). Those guys tried to get out there and work and push through some things. I guess we'll sit back and appreciate it after."

ON IF HE'S WORRIED ABOUT THE YOUNGER PLAYERS BEING CAUGHT UP IN THE MOMENT:

"I coach them all like they're gonna be the number one guy. If I feel like those guys are ready, those guys are gonna play. They know right now (that) there's not time to sit back and be shellshocked. We brought those guys in here to play. That's the plan."

ON IF FORD PLAYING TOO MANY SNAPS IS HIS FAULT OR FORD'S:

"It's a little bit of both. I have to catch myself. Sometimes you can sit there and kind of, knowing what you got, wanting to go to the well too much. But also, we've got some young guys that are going to have to carry a little bit of a load, also. It's gonna be a long season. I tell those guys it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. If we use all of our bullets up in the first two games, we're gonna be hammering ourselves at the end of the season. We gotta make sure that we sit there, we're gonna kinda push the tempo a little bit. We need some other guys kind of going there and not wear most of the tread off those other guys."

ON IF FORD COULD HAVE DONE BETTER BECAUSE HE WASN'T FRESH:

"There's no excuses for it. We gotta go out there and execute. When we're out there, we're ready."

ON IF THE OFFENSE WENT AS FAST AS THE COACHES WANTED AGAINST LIBERTY:

"As coaches, we try to control the tempo. We want those guys to go out there and play as fast as they can within the parameters of what we're trying to do. We can spit the call out fast or we can hold it. But when we're out there, we want those guys to play hard, smart, and tough. That causes those guys to go out there and strain. If you're not getting tired, you're not playing hard enough. That was my thing with Isaiah."

ON THE CHALLENGE THE TENNESSEE SECONDARY POSES:

"They're good all around. Those guys do an awesome job playing the coverage with some of the man stuff those guys do. They have some unbelievable talents and unbelievable players back there. It's gonna be a bit of a challenge for our guys, but I think they're up for it."

ON IF THEY WANT THE OFFENSE TO MOVE FASTER AS THE YEAR GOES ON:

"We pretty much kind of scratch where it itches. Sometimes when you get in the flow of the game, you get an idea of what you want to do. Whether that's mashing the gas a little bit and trying to push the tempo or whether that's slowing it down and being a little more methodical."

Jerod Evans

ON IF THERE IS ANOTHER GEAR TO THE OFFENSE:

"I think there's definitely another gear to this offense. We're just trying to figure out where we were at. Make sure we were executing right. I kind of slowed it down, myself, to make sure I'm executing and that I'm doing my job right. Yeah, it definitely has another gear."

ON HOW THE COACHES SIGNAL HOW FAST THEY WANT TO GO:

"Depends on the play call. Different play calls have different tempos. When we call a certain play, it's either going to tell me tempo or it's not. It's just play call and the signal caller's plays he wants to call if we want to go fast."

ON IF THE OFFENSE IS COMFORTABLE WITH GOING FASTER:

"I think we're all comfortable with the tempo. We push tempo every single day in practice, so I think we're comfortable. Again, it just goes to what the play caller wants to do. Whether Coach Corn (Brad Cornelsen) wants to slow down or wants to play fast, or if Coach Fu (Fuente) wants to slow down or go fast, it all depends on what the head man or offensive coordinator wants."

ON HOW HE FELT HIS GAME WAS AFTER WATCHING TAPE:

"Still some good (and) some bad. Some mistakes that I need to clean up. That's every week. I'm a perfectionist, so I'm always going to see something wrong with my game and see where I need to get better. Whether that's footwork, whether that's a throw, whether that's looking at the right read, whatever it is I'm looking at, I wanna make sure that I'm doing the right job so I can give the team the best chance to win. As far as doing my assignment, the little part that I do have, make sure I'm doing that right."

ON WHAT FUENTE TOLD HIM WHILE WATCHING TAPE:

"Whatever he told y'all is what he told me. Some good (and) some bad. He's straightforward. He doesn't hide around the corner."

ON WHAT IT WAS LIKE PLAYING IN LANE STADIUM FOR THE FIRST TIME:

"Exciting. I've never played in front of a big crowd before. It was definitely exciting. To me, it's another game of football with a lot more eyes on me. But it was very, very exciting going from (the) Air Force Academy to junior college where there were about 250 people in the stands, probably less than that...to sixty-some thousand people in the stands. That's definitely a big change. But at the end of the day, football's football. Still gotta go execute. Still gotta go through the game plan. You have to have more points than the other team."

ON IF HE'S GLAD TO HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE BEFORE THE BATTLE AT BRISTOL:

"The first time I kind of got a glimpse of it was the spring game. It was about 45 to 50-some thousand people there at that game. Of course it's not like a game atmosphere all the way, but kind of got a glimpse of what I was going to get when I played my first game. I got my first taste (at the) spring game. It definitely helps me get ready to understand the crowd noise and all of that. (To) get adjusted."

ON HOW BIG THE JET SWEEP IS TO THE OFFENSIVE SYSTEM:

"We always want to get the ball to the perimeter. Whether it's by jet sweep, whether it's by the running back getting out, whether we throw a bubble (screen), we always try to get it out. We always try to get it back in. Try to keep it where the defense keeps guessing. We definitely want to get it out."

ON WHO IS QUALIFIED TO RUN THE SWEEP:

"I think the guys that are coming into the game, whether that's Cam (Phillips), whether that's C.J. (Carroll), whether that's Henri (Murphy), whoever's in, Coach (Fuente) trusts them to take the jet sweep and do something with it. That's the coach's decision. I think a lot of them can do that job pretty well."

ON IF HE THOUGHT FORD COULD HAVE HAD A BETTER GAME:

"We all left something out there. That's a broad question because all of us left something out there. I know for sure (that) I left a lot out there. To say one individual left a lot out there, we all left something out there that we want back. I'm pretty sure everybody on that field says something that they didn't like that they did wrong. Isaiah being who he is, I'm gonna say yeah. But all of us left something on the field."

ON IF HE FEELS FORTUNATE TO HAVE THE SKILL PLAYERS AROUND HIM THAT HE DOES:

"I feel fortunate just to be in the position I am. To have them is just a bonus. To be in the position I'm in, I feel fortunate enough; but to have them is just a bonus on what comes with the territory."

ON HOW MUCH TENNESSEE FILM HE'S WATCHED AND WHAT CHALLENGES THEY POSE:

"To be honest, I have not watched a lot of film. I watched a lot on my day off yesterday, but I wouldn't consider it a lot. I'm just diving into it. They're very, very, very talented. Got a great front seven. Got great DB's. I don't know exactly how much of a threat they pose, but they have great talent. I'm still watching film. I just dove in and started yesterday."

ON WHEN HE FIRST NOTICED MURPHY'S SPEED:

"We were in the indoor (practice facility) just getting some extra work in. He was new, so he wanted to try to catch up where he was already behind at. We were just working routes and at the end of all that stuff we were doing, he wanted to throw a post route. That's when I found out that the dude was extremely fast."

ON MURPHY'S PERSONALITY:

"He's definitely a goofball. I like it personally. He's definitely a goofball. Country? Yeah. He's a good guy to be around. He keeps the spirit up around the team. He knows how to have a good time."

ON IF HE'S EVER PLAYED WITH A PLAYER WITH THE SKILLSET OF FORD:

"Actually I played with a couple of receivers at Trinity Valley (Community College). Derrick Willies is one of them. He's at Texas Tech right now. I think Isaiah possesses something that a lot of people really kind of don't have. He's hungry. The guy that I just mentioned is very hungry, but (Ford) knows how to high-point the ball. He doesn't let the ball come to his body. He wants the ball. All of them are hungry, it's just, I don't know, something else. I really can't put my hands on it. Some people just have that something about them. Cam, all (of) them boys, (they're) bad. I don't know how to explain it."

ON WHO HE THINKS WILL HAVE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE AT BRISTOL:

"I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about making sure I learn the million new plays we (have). I'm not worried about how many fans are going to be in the stadium, to be honest. I'm trying to make sure I'm executing the plays that we just installed."

Henri Murphy

ON HIS RECOLLECTION OF THE POST PATTERN WITH JEROD:

"I came and they said (that) they had a JUCO quarterback that came in. I just wanted to see how his arm was. I told him to throw me a post and he threw it. He kind of put all his effort into throwing the ball and I went under it and got it. He looked at me and said, 'I (didn't) know you (were) going to catch it.'"

ON IF HE RAN TRACK IN HIGH SCHOOL:

"Yeah, I ran track in high school from 9th grade to 12th grade. 100 (meter dash), 200 (meter dash), (and) 4x100 (meter relay)."

ON THE LEVEL OF COUNTRY IN HIM THAT HIS TEAMMATES DON'T HAVE:

"I just think they're not used to my talking, my language. I kind of feel I talk the same as everybody else. I talk different, I guess."

ON IF HE LIKES TO HAVE FUN ON THE FIELD:

"I like just making little jokes. Always making little jokes on the field, off the field. I just feel like it's all about having fun. I have everybody laughing every day. Sometimes they have me laughing. Some days we just don't laugh at all."

ON IF IT WAS HARD TO FIT IN:

"My whole Iife, I've been a jokester. Once I first got here I just wanted to make friends, so I had to make a couple of them laugh. Let them know who I was. I felt comfortable making everybody laugh. Now I make everybody laugh. Every time I walk past them I tell them a little joke or something. Or they'll say a joke to me. Or they'll just bust out laughing when we don't say anything."

ON WHAT HIS JOKES CONSIST OF:

"I just say some funny stuff. Like off the wall type stuff that's funny."

ON WHAT HE LIKED ABOUT THIS COACHING STAFF:

"From day one, they've always been the same type of coaches. They showed that they cared about me. They (were) loyal to me. When I went to junior college, they still stuck with me. This place was the best fit for me to be. I'm just here to help win games and be a part of a great group of guys."

ON IF HE PLANNED TO FOLLOW THE COACHING STAFF AFTER JUCO:

"To be honest, for a second, I was saying I was going to Memphis in December. And then after I heard the rumors and stuff about Coach Fu (Fuente) leaving, I was like, 'Man, I don't know where I'm gonna end up going.' I was loyal to them the whole time."

"I signed with Henderson State. They're a Division-II school. I signed with them on signing day because I didn't have any offers. Coach Fu (Fuente) didn't come until after track season, so I signed with Henderson State. Memphis offered me, I tried to get a release from Henderson State, but they weren't trying to release me so I had to do junior college. (I) stayed one year."

ON HIS FAMILY'S REACTION TO HIS SIGNING WITH VIRGINIA TECH:

"I talk to my momma every day. She's worried about me every day, being thirteen hours away from home. I'm telling here everything's all good. It was kind of a tough decision, just coming to Virginia Tech. I had schools back at home that I could have went to. I just chose Virginia Tech because of the coaching staff, first of all, and I did want to try something new. Get away from home and explore the world"

ON HOW POSITIONS HE CAN PLAY IN THIS OFFENSE:

"I can play the slot. On the jet sweep, the tempo of the offense is kind of fast, I believe it fits me perfectly because it's a lot of fast plays and I'm just fast. So I guess I fit in with the plays."

ON IF THIS OFFENSE HAS ANOTHER GEAR:

"I believe (there's) another gear. (We're) still working to get more gears and make it faster and faster."