Duke football quarterback Maalik Murphy transferred to Duke after spending his freshman collegiate season as the backup at Texas. Murphy is a former four-star recruit and was the #9 ranked quarterback in the class of 2022. After former Blue Devil signal caller Riley Leonard transferred to Notre Dame this past offseason, there was a lot of excitement to see what Murphy could bring to Durham after he didn't see the field much during his freshman campaign with the Longhorns.
Murphy has had a pretty good season in his first with Duke. He's led the Blue Devils to a 7-3 record at the moment and has thrown for 2,366 yards with 22 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Murphy has been a middle-of-the-pack signal caller relative to the ACC, but has found a home in Durham and has led the offense all year.
But, the offense has certainly had its woes. It's been one of the worst teams converting on third down in the country all season, and it seems every game the Blue Devils have a quarter or a half where they just can't find any rhythm offensively.
The defense has led this Duke team behind defensive-minded rookie head coach Manny Diaz, but offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer has always used an air-raid type of scheme to push the deep ball down the field quick.
Murphy has looked great at times and not so great at times. He's had five games with three touchdown passes or more and only one game with multiple interceptions. But his growing pains haven't always shown up in the stat sheet.
Murphy has struggled with missing throws badly in some games, definitely didn't handle blitz pressure well early on in the season, and struggled with decision-making at times with pressure which ended in some poor throws.
Yet in Duke's 29-19 win over North Carolina State two weeks ago, Murphy looked the best he's looked all season. He completed 71% of his passes for 245 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. He looked comfortable in the pocket and did a much better job not letting pressure speed him up.
Brewer highlighted Murphy's development over the course of the season in his press conference ahead of Duke's senior night primetime date with Virginia Tech this Saturday.
"He's been more comfortable in what we've been doing. I'm still trying, as a coordinator, to learn him in that world. I think for him, he's feeling confident in the speed of the game."
Murphy has never been a running quarterback as one of the big reasons he struggles to escape pressure is his lack of experience with making throws on the run. He looked like he'd figured out how to use his legs at times during the NC State game, and Brewer gave Murphy his flowers.
"It showed up on the two-minute drive, we ran a short play and they covered it, and he actually scrambled and found the guy, which he had not done yet. We just have to keep remembering that this is his first year being the guy and really playing. He's not a mobile guy anyways but for him to be able to start doing that, it means that things are starting to slow down and he's starting to see things more clearly in that world."
Duke is slight underdogs against the 5-5 Hokies, and with the Blue Devils receiving a few AP Poll votes this week, a win on Saturday could inch the program closer to being ranked for the first time since the 1994 season.
As Murphy continues to improve, it will be exciting for fans to see how this offense gets better towards the end of the regular season.