56 days until kickoff, honoring the legend Kyle Murphy

The July 4th festivities may have come and gone (hopefully everyone still has all of their fingers), but our Spotlight Series marches on. Yesterday we honored the late Stacy Harvey, a linebacker who made the most of his short time as a starter. As we move to 56 days until kickoff, we flip over to the offensive side of the ball and highlight Kyle Murphy, a center and guard who to this day remains very active in the Sun Devil family.

A product of Edison High School in Huntington Beach, Kyle arrived in Tempe for the 1994 season and immediately started at center and right guard throughout the season. An otherwise tough season as the Sun Devils finished the season 3-8 and tied for last in the Pac-10, but the groundwork was laid for greater things to come. Murphy's sophomore season in 1995 saw improvement to a 6-5 record, just missing out on a bowl berth. Then came 1996.

Murphy played a major role on the offensive line for the 1996 team that reached the Rose Bowl. His stellar play helped hide the rushing offense to an astonishing 248.5 yards per game, and an even more mind-boggling 492.4 yards of total offense per game. When asked if the 19-0 win over then-No. 1 ranked Nebraska was the most important win of the season, Murphy disagreed:

"The Nebraska game was special because we shut them out," Murphy stated, "but I don't think we knew what we really had until we came back to beat UCLA and beat USC in overtime. That's when we knew we had an opportunity to do something rare."

Wanting more, Kyle returned for his senior season and was named one of the five team captains for the season, serving alongside the great Pat Tillman. The team stumbled slightly coming off the Rose Bowl Loss, but still had a respectable 9-3 finish, capped off by a 17-7 win over Iowa in the 1997 Sun Bowl.

For Murphy, the individual accolades started streaming in as he earned Third-Team All-American honors from the Associated Press and Football News, and Second-Team All-American honors from The Sporting News. Kyle was also named First-Team All-Pac-10 after being named to the Second-Team in 1996, and earned a spot in the 1997 East-West Shrine Game.

For all the recognition that his senior season brought, Kyle did not hear his name called in the NFL Draft, but did get a chance when the Oakland Raiders signed him as an undrafted free agent.

With a professional career not in the stars, Kyle set his sights on coaching. He returned to Edison High School, serving on the football and girls basketball coaching staffs at his alma mater before taking a graduate assistant position with the Cal Lutheran University football program. He currently serves as the Pacifica High School football team, having been named to that position entering the 2023 season.

To this day, Kyle is still a staple of Sun Devil Football, prominently featured in the Pat Tillman Tunnel leading on to the field at Mountain America Stadium. A football lifer and true Sun Devil, we honor Kyle with 56 days until the season opener.