Myles Murphy on defensive depth: Tune in this year for real

The North Carolina Tar Heels’ football program enters the 2022 season with optimism that they can turnaround their porous defense from last season. The unit allowed 418 yards per game and 32 points per game last year, but help is on the way in the form of new defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. The ‘Heels new assistant coach is taking what he recently called a “less is more” approach to the team’s defense in the hopes of turning things around in Chapel Hill. The team also has a couple of fresh faces on defense, some via the high school recruiting ranks and some via the transfer portal.

North Carolina does return some talented pieces on the defensive side of the ball and one of them has breakout potential this season, defensive tackle Myles Murphy (not to be confused with Clemson’s Myles Murphy). He recently spoke with the media about how pumped he is about the team’s defense heading into the 2022 season.

“I’m excited right now because we deep right now. Tune in this year for real. Trav [Travis Shaw], you know he’s coming along. He’s big, gonna clog up some lanes. Clog up some nose spots. It’s gonna be real amazing to see,” Murphy said.

Last year, Murphy started all 13 games for North Carolina and reeled in second-team All-ACC honors after racking up 38 tackles, nine tackles for loss, four sacks, and three pass breakups. Many are expecting big things for him this year and it’s easy to see why after looking at his production. According to the On3 Consensus Rankings, the gifted defensive lineman was rated as the No. 151 player in the nation for the 2020 cycle coming out of Dudley High School (Greensboro, North Carolina). It’s the same school that produced former N.C. State great DeMario Pressley.

Murphy is not kidding about Travis Shaw clogging up lanes at the nose tackle position. Shaw is a 6-foot-5, 360-pound behemoth that was one of the highest rated prospects in America coming out of Grimsley High School (Greensboro, North Carolina) in the 2022 cycle.

According to the On3 Consensus Rankings, he was the second-highest rated recruit in the ‘Heels highly acclaimed recruiting class, checking in as the No. 49 overall prospect in America. North Carolina reeled in the No. 10 overall recruiting class in America in On3’s Team Recruiting Rankings and the top-rated class in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Tar Heels also plucked gifted linebacker prospect Noah Taylor from the Virginia Cavaliers via the transfer portal. He’s demonstrated in the past that he’s oozing with potential, both when dropping back in pass coverage and rushing the passer. In four years with the Cavaliers, Taylor racked up 169 tackles and 12.5 sacks. He seems excited about his fit in Gene Chizik’s defensive scheme, and he’ll be counted on to make an instant impact this year as well.

North Carolina kicks off their 2022-2023 season against the Florida A&M Rattlers on Saturday, Aug. 27th. Kickoff for that one is set for 8:00 PM EST on ACC Network.