Former Texas QB owner Murphy enjoys ‘fresh start’ at Duke

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke quarterback Malik Murphy said Wednesday he couldn’t have asked for a better fresh start after his decision to transfer from Texas.

Murphy said that once he learned that Quin Yers would be returning as a starter, he decided to find a school where he could compete for the starting job.

“This is my third year in college, so if I’m going to compete, I want to compete in a new place,” Murphy said during the ACC kickoff. “Quinn made it really hard for me to come back because it was her job to lose, and I really didn’t want to deal with that again. I wanted to start over, and I think this is a great place. To start over.”

Murphy spent last season as Ewers’ backup and started two games after Ewers was injured. He won them both. All eyes have been on Texas’ quarterback room since Arch Manning arrived as a true freshman last season. Murphy said there was never any hostility.

“It was great because all the pressure was on them,” Murphy said. “I had nothing else to do but play football. They both love me to death. There was no tension between us. It was outside noise, which neither of us cared about. We are just two boys and friends.”

In fact, he enjoyed the relative anonymity he had in Austin when the players went out together.

“That was the fun part,” Murphy said. “Because I’m the type of guy that jokes about stuff like that. We’d go out to eat as a quarterback and people would come up to me and ask me, ‘Dude, is that Arch Manning? And I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s Arch, with you. Should talk, ‘So I’m one of the quarterbacks in the room, it’s not like I’m good without it so yeah, it was a treasure with those guys.’

When Murphy entered the portal last December, first-year coach Manny Diaz decided to make a play for the former Elite 11 quarterback, after Duke starter Riley Leonard left for Notre Dame.

Diaz had an old photo of Murphy from when he was a middle schooler attending a football camp in Miami — where Diaz had previously worked. Murphy said when he got the text he was shocked Diaz still got it.

“My perspective knowing that I had met him, that I had talked to him before, made me feel comfortable enough to take my talents to where he was coaching.”

Diaz described Murphy as a gifted passer and knew Murphy started big games in big environments. But he also knew that convincing Murphy to come to Duke — which had lost head coach Mike Elko to Texas A&M, Leonard and other key players to transfer portals — would also be a huge win for his locker room.

“There was this instability, and I got recruited, and that helped a little bit, but I felt like I had to take a big step,” Diaz said. “When he came in, our players were like, ‘Oh, wow, OK, this is different.’ It definitely helped with the narrative and convincing them that we could do something.”

Murphy is in a competition with Grayson Loftis for the starting job, which will continue into the fall. Loftis planned to redshirt as a true freshman last season, but ended up playing in eight games — including five starts — after injuries to both Leonard and Henry Belin IV.

“One of the things I said when I first walked into the room was, ‘Hey man, that’s who I am,’ and I let them know that I want the best for you and I want the best for me, and I want you to push me as hard as you can. will push me as hard as I can, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Murphy said.