Murphy has been the catalyst to St. John's terrific start.
SHREWSBURY -- It’s fair to say that St. John’s of Shrewsbury senior quarterback Griffin Murphy is enjoying playing in the spread offense this season.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Murphy. “I’m used to it because in Connecticut I ran the spread so I don’t completely not know what’s going on, so it’s been a pretty easy transition for the most part.”
The strong-armed quarterback, who transferred from Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford, Conn. his junior year has taken to the air for 13 touchdown passes in the first four games of the season for the top-ranked Pioneers (4-0).
This spread offense is so tough to neutralize that defensive coordinators must stay awake all night trying to figure out a game plan to stop it. Forget stop, maybe even just slow them down a tad because no one up to this point has even been able to do that.
“I think we’re really dangerous,” admitted Murphy. “Obviously with a great line, we knew we had good talent at the skill positions and we knew we had a solid line, but we weren’t entirely sure how the line was going to adjust to this offense. But they’ve done one hell of a job.”
Murphy is heaping praise to the men in the trenches that have kept him clean and healthy. The Pioneers offensive linemen are: centers Troy Moore and Chris Jacques, guards Shane McGrail and Steven Roth and tackles Tim Granger and Tyler Pike.
St. John's junior Richard Rodgers throws a stiff arm en route to a 75-yard touchdown following an interception.
Murphy also has the luxury of throwing to the best wide receiver in Central Mass. --- and perhaps the state --- junior Richard Rodgers. The junior wideout has already been offered a full scholarship to play football at the University of Maryland.
Rodgers is a physical specimen at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds. He has great hands and has the ability to make big play after big play. Rodgers has nine touchdown receptions on the season, many of which are of the highlight-reel variety.
“It makes the quarterback’s life a lot easier when you’ve got a kid with his talent, hands and size,” Murphy said. “If he’s one-on-one and I like the leverage the cornerback is giving him, I’m absolutely going to be looking for him.”
Rodgers and Murphy have appeared to be on the same page all season long, and there’s a reason for that.
“Our chemistry is good,” Rodgers said. “We worked all offseason in the summer, we put in extra work after workouts and it’s paying off this season.”
While Rodgers is a tough player to stop, so is Murphy.
“He’s a very smart quarterback,” Rodgers said. “His dad helps him and he’s got a lot of people that help him out, and he really takes advantage of what’s offered. He’s very smart and we’re on the same page most of the time. If we’re not on the same page, then he usually takes off with it (the ball). We’re fine with that, too.”
As a junior, Murphy ran into some bad luck when he broke his collarbone on the first series of the fifth game of the season against Westboro.
“I could have played in the Thanksgiving game, I was cleared to play in the Thanksgiving game, but the coaches said it’s not smart,” Murphy said. “It’s the most frustrating couple months of my life. And that’s what made me work so hard that winter and this summer.”
As a sophomore, Murphy also got hit by the injury bug.
Murphy is a threat on the ground as well as through the air.
“When I was in Connecticut, I won a starting job the fourth game of the season and actually had elbow surgery, arthroscopic surgery,” he said. “They had to get rid of all the scar tissue, so I was out my sophomore season and then I came in here and broke my collarbone. Then after the season I actually had the surgery again and they opened it up and completely fixed it, it’s completely healed now.”
Obviously, that has hurt Murphy’s recruiting process, but he’s already garnered interest from many solid programs.
“Obviously I want to play Division I football, like Big East, as big as I can,” Murphy said. “UConn showed a lot of interest. But I absolutely wouldn’t have a problem with playing for a Division 1-AA school.
“I went to Fordham, James Madison – that was probably my favorite all summer – UNH, Harvard, William & Mary, Richmond, UMass…so a lot of CAA schools I’m really interested in. And they’ve showed a lot of interest back, too.”
But for now, what Murphy is interested in is winning on the high school level.
“A Central Mass. championship, that’s all I think about,” Murphy said. “That’s all I ever tell my teammates, that is what everyone else’s mentality is too. Anything less than a championship for me this season is not acceptable.”
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