Dick Butkus has high praise for Alabama early enrollee Shawn Murphy

There is not much more esteemed praise a linebacker can receive than a positive comment from the legendary Dick Butkus. But that’s what four-star linebacker Shawn Murphy has earned.

Murphy was honored as the high school winner of the Dick Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker. After the ceremony, Butkus tweeted kind words about Murphy, even comparing him to college Butkus Award winner Nakobe Dean.

shawn has a solid role model in nakobe
similar style of play
whole field football

— Dick Butkus (@thedickbutkus) February 9, 2022

expecting big things from you young man@nakobe seemed less than thrilled with your school of choice though

— Dick Butkus (@thedickbutkus) February 9, 2022

Murphy is the No. 63 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Lynchburg (Va.) Liberty Christian Academy five-star interior offensive lineman and North Carolina signee Zach Rice is the only player ranked ahead of him from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Murphy currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $40,000. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

He played at the Under Armour All-American Game last month, where Charles Power provided a brief update on his play.

“Similar to running backs, the linebackers can be a bit tougher to gauge in the non-contact practices,” Power said. “Murphy looks to be around the listed 6-foot-3 and moved around well in drills. He worked as the middle linebacker for Team Legends, mirroring where we see him playing long-term. We’ll watch Murphy and the other linebackers closely in the game.”

Shawn Murphy is a key member of the Crimson Tide’s second-ranked recruiting class in the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking. He is the only pure linebacker of the group, although Alabama does have two five-star EDGE recruits in Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson’s Jeremiah Alexander and Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy’s Jihaad Campbell.