Ryan Murray knows the meaning of the word “commitment.”Every morning during football season, he leaves his Northeast Philadelphia home at 6 o’clock and takes four SEPTA buses to get to Bok Tech at 9th and Mifflin Streets in South Philly. He gets to school at 7:45.
When classes are over, he hits the books, then he hits the football field. Practice ends at 6 o’clock – then begins the long trip back to the Northeast. Murray gets home at 8 p.m.
Seeing a local kid make that kind of commitment to his high school team, it’s no surprise that Coach Al Golden asked him to make a commitment to Temple. (Especially since Murray measures in as a 6-6, 335-pound offensive tackle who earned All-Public League honors last season.)
Last week, Murray accepted Golden’s scholarship offer. He’s the eighth high school senior to commit to the Owls this recruiting season.
“I chose Temple because I like the coaching staff and I like the head coach and I like the campus,” Murray said in a Monday night phone interview with OwlsDaily.com.
The same applies to Murray’s high school choice.
He grew up in Southwest Philly and went to Bok for ninth grade. That was also the first year he played organized football. “Everybody was telling me to go out for the team, so I figured I’d try it,” Murray said.
He liked it. He also liked Bok.
So when his family moved to the Northeast in the summer before 10th grade, Murray decided to commit to the commute and stay at Bok.
“I could have transferred to Northeast or Washington or Frankford (which happen to be the three strongest football teams in the Public League),” Murray said. “But at Bok the coach was always behind me and the staff was always behind me, so I decided to stay.”
Murray’s coach is Temple football alum Tom DeFelice, who quarterbacked the Owls from 1965-67 – helping Coach George Makris earn a MAC Championship in ’67. (That’s MAC as in: Middle Atlantic Conference.)
DeFelice says there’s no limit to how good Murray can become – because of his size, because of his character, and because of his “commitment to be a complete person.”
“He’s not a great football player yet,” DeFelice said. “There’s room for improvement in every part of his game. But you look at him at 6-6, 330 to 340 pounds at 17 years old, with his dedication, you can project down the road what he can be.”
The Owls got a first-hand look at Murray’s potential at their one-day camp on June 14th. He also took a trip to Pittsburgh, which was actively recruiting him. Maryland and Widener were also in contact.
Murray wasn’t planning to make an early college commitment. In fact, he wasn’t expecting to receive a scholarship offer.
“After the camp, Temple told me they were interested and to keep up the good work,” Murray said. “Then two weeks later I talked to Coach Paul Williams and he said they wanted to offer me a scholarship. I didn’t expect it to come so quick.”
But he didn’t jump at the offer immediately.
“I waited for a little while,” Murray said. “I did a little research on Temple, mostly looking at what I would like to take up academically.”
Eventually, Williams arranged a campus tour and an on-campus meeting with Golden for Murray and his family. Soon after, the Owls had a new commitment.
“They said there were four spots for offensive linemen,” Murray said.
Now there’s one less, or two, if you count Murray twice.
“He looks like a door,” DeFelice said. “And I mean that in a nice way.”