Outside of Blaise Gunnerson, who decided to give up football after battling injuries throughout his career, the Huskers bring back their entire three-deep along the defensive line.
With only Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher set to exhaust their eligibility after the upcoming 2024 season, the Nebraska football staff went into the 2024 cycle looking to take only a couple of D-linemen given the roster numbers crunch.
An early target of the staff was Elkhorn South’s Ashton Murphy, who was offered by Matt Rhule on Jan. 31, 2023. Although he had been on the radar of former interim head coach Mickey Joseph, who got him on campus for an unofficial visit in the fall, Murphy’s recruitment had been relatively quiet entering last January’s contact period.
Despite earning honorable-mention all-state honors as a junior, the only scholarship he’d received was from Northern Iowa after attending their Junior Day. Husker D-line coach Terrance Knighton made an introduction during one of his first stops when he visited Elkhorn South to learn more about 2023 signee Maverick Noonan.
The Huskers began a dialogue, but other than that, Murphy wasn’t hearing much from other programs to that point. The early opinion was that he was indeed a FBS player, but that he would have to wait until later in the spring and into June to show out on the camp circuit to get offers.
That changed after he took part in the Warren Academy Showcase held at the Omaha Sports Complex in mid-January. He tested well and looked good in drills, and schools began to take notice. A few weeks later he got his second offer from Colorado, with the Huskers following two days later. Rhule made the offer personally, and when he spoke to Murphy he told him the entire staff watched his film and liked it.
Go here for more from Jeremy Pernell’s series.
Despite the early offer from the new staff, Murphy took his time through spring as he added a Power Five offer from Iowa State, as well as several Group of Five and FCS tenders from schools like Northern Illinois, Wyoming, North Dakota State and all three service academies. He was also hearing more and more from several regional schools.
He took visits to Iowa State (March 4), Iowa (April 1), Colorado (April 6) and Air Force (April 8), in addition to his March 8 visit to Lincoln to spend time around the new staff for the first time. On that visit, Murphy watched part of Nebraska’s special teams practice before meeting with the engineering department and ultimately hooking back up with Nebraska’s coaches.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Murphy received recruiting attention for both sides of the ball, with some schools liking his ceiling more on offense. When he initially began talking with the new staff, they told him they were looking at both options, but after they spoke during the March visit, they told him they saw him as a defensive end.
Murphy returned to Lincoln on April 11 to watch a full spring practice and spend more time around position coach Terrance Knighton. After making several other visits that spring, Murphy decided he had seen enough and shut things down. He committed during the visit and became a fixture on campus.
He returned for his official visit June 23-25 and was back for the July 30 recruiting barbecue. Like most in-state commits, Murphy was a regular at Husker home games this fall, attending games against Louisiana Tech, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue and Iowa.
Murphy has been a two-way starter for the Storm at left tackle and defensive tackle since his junior season. He earned first-team All-Nebraska and first-team Super-State honors from the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star, respectively, as a senior. He also competes in track, finishing seventh in the shot put at the 2023 Class A state meet. He has PRs of 57′ 2.5″ (shot put) and 155′ 7″ (discus).
Nebraska likes his length and athleticism and think he’ll provide some positional flexibility along the D-line once he’s spent some time with Corey Campbell and the strength staff. He could ultimately provide some snaps at the three-technique out to a 4 or 4i and even a 5.
Murphy enrolled early and is taking part in winter conditioning and will participate in spring practices. I anticipate him redshirting and working the next couple of seasons behind the scenes building up his body for the Big Ten.
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