CHARLOTTE — N.C. State didn’t bring Larrell Murchison to the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte this week.
But the East Bladen High School product was part of the discussion. The Wolfpack senior started his career at Louisburg, redshirted his first year in Raleigh while the entire defensive line earned NFL draft slots, then excelled last fall starting every game at defensive tackle.
“I love him,” said James Smith-Williams, a standout defensive end from Raleigh who is also in his final year of collegiate eligibility. “He’s a great football player. He’s a great guy. We’ve grown very close. I would say that every day he does something new, I’ll do something new. We’re trying to copy each other or teach something that we learned. It’s helped us both grow.”
Murchison had season highs of three sacks against Virginia and six tackles against Wake Forest. But the play that opened a few NFL scouts’ eyes was the 6-foot-3, 291-pounder’s leaping interception against Florida State.
Tweeted Joe Marino of thedraftnetwork.com, with accompanying video, “NC State DT Larrell Murchison recorded this interception against FSU last season. Dude charges, changes directions and catches a football thrown with pace less than 10 yards away all in a matter of 3-4 seconds. Not bad for a near-300 pound man.”
On top of that agile display, an N.C. State video of him in the weight room in June is making the rounds with nearly 42,000 plays. In it, he’s squatting 530 pounds — eight times, with the rest of his teammates leaving their stations and coming around to cheer him on.
At East Bladen, that would have been about a one-time lift.
He’s come a long way. But the future could last a bit, too.
“I think Larrell is a name, if he stays healthy, knock on wood, that’s what we need him to do, should be one of the better defensive linemen, interior guys in the conference,” said head coach Dave Doeren. “He’s very disruptive. He plays hard. He’s got a great motor, big heart. The game is slow to him right now. He’s not thinking at all. In the weight room, there isn’t anything he can’t do in there with Coach Thunder.
“The biggest thing for him is going to be staying healthy. He would be a disruptive force in the interior of our front.”
Pro Football Focus says he’s the second-highest graded returning inside pass rusher in the league.
PFF College is a data analysis provider to dozens of college football programs. Their numbers say that, in the ACC, Murchison is tied for third-best among returning interior defensive linemen in pass-rush win percentage. His success rate is better than 1 in 10, a good mark considering teams’ pass attempts in this era.
WalterFootball.com puts Murchison No. 16 nationally among defensive tackles.
At one time, Murchison was headed to Ole Miss and the SEC. Instead, he wound up playing close to home in the division that is home to two of the last three national champions, and three of the last five.
He’s arguably in the best proving ground available.
He said it
Trip Durham, host of the interview process on behalf of the ACC, noted the 50th anniversary of the moon landing coming up and asked a few coaches a question related to it.
He asked — and a got an answer that didn’t miss a beat — Florida State’s Willie Taggert if he had any aspirations of going to the moon.
“Nah, I’m good in Tallahassee.”
More coming
The event continued Thursday into the afternoon, with Duke, North Carolina and the rest of the Coastal Division up.
The preseason All-ACC team will be announced next week.