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Byron Murphy details his decision, how it went down behind the scenes

Byron Murphy flipped his commitment from Baylor to Texas on Wednsday.
Byron Murphy flipped his commitment from Baylor to Texas on Wednsday. (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

On the surface, it appeared as new Texas commitment Byron Murphy was an immediate flip for the Texas Longhorns. Murphy, the talented defensive tackle out of DeSoto, had been committed to Baylor for several months but decomitted on Wednesday. Within an hour later, he had given Texas a pledge, making it look like everything happened in the span of one day … or hours.

Not quite.

Murphy had been quietly communicating with the Texas staff, mainly Oscar Giles and Mark Hagen, for several weeks. He had been sitting on the UT offer for a couple weeks, and finally decided Wednesday was the day to make the flip official.

“I’ve been talking to Texas for about a month,” Murphy said. “They’ve been talking to me, keeping in touch with me, telling me and just keeping persuading me to come to Texas, and I finally made the move.”

In today’s day and age of social media, it’s rare to see a prospect keep such a tight lid on news of offers and contact with coaches, but Murphy did a good job of staying silent before word began to leak out on Wednesday morning that a flip from his Baylor commitment could be imminent.

“I wanted to surprise everybody,” Murphy said with a laugh.

Mission accomplished. And what was it about Texas that made Murphy want to break away from his five-month commitment to Baylor?

“Everything. Coach Hagen and coach Giles, they showed me how I fit in their defense, the scheme they run,” Murphy said. “I feel like I fit well in their defense. Also the facilities, all the coaches, the fans. And also the education system up there is pretty good.”

At a shade over 6-1 and currently tipping the scales at 304 pounds, Murphy has the look of a pure defensive tackle, but he said the Texas coaches have told him they’ll try to showcase his versatility.

“I’ll be mostly interior, but they’ll move me around. But mostly interior,” Murphy said. “I feel like I can help out a lot. I have the speed, power, pass rush.”

Murphy actually notified the Texas coaches on Tuesday before publicly announcing his decision on Wednesday. He’s been to the UT campus a handful of times for recruiting events and said he’s now ready to shut down the recruiting process and sign in December.

“It feels great. I’m glad I got it over with, glad to be a part of the Texas family,” Murphy said.

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