Cole Murphy didn’t care where the ball went, as long as it went far.

When the kicker first transferred to Valencia (California) High School in his junior year, he had an unrefined and inaccurate kicking leg.

His body was out of control. His only redeeming quality was his power.

“We had a lot of mechanical drills that we worked on during practice,” said Brian Malette, Murphy’s high school kicking coach. “He was able to finally control himself in regard to being more accurate and placing the ball where he wanted to place it rather than just hacking at it. 

“He definitely had one of the biggest legs in Valencia history.”

With that talent, Murphy earned a preferred walk-on offer from Syracuse in March. In the Orange’s 34-20 loss to Maryland on Sept. 20, he came on for starter Ryan Norton and booted a 49-yard field goal during the first quarter. In Saturday’s game against Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium, he started and made a 38-yard field goal on his first try before hitting the right upright and missing from 37 later in the game.

His powerful leg had him taking kickoffs in the Orange’s season opener against Villanova. But junior starting kicker Ryan Norton went 4-for-7 in SU’s first two games and Murphy pushed into a starting role against the Fighting Irish.

“Every week’s a competition,” Murphy said before the Notre Dame game. “Every week we’re trying to get the exact same spot. I’m trying to get Norton’s, he’s trying to get mine.”

Murphy, like many college kickers, has a background in soccer. The high school goalkeeper said that he wanted to pursue a career in soccer up until his transfer to Valencia.

In his first two years of playing football at West Ranch (California) High School, he wasn’t the prolific kicker that he’d eventually become. He only started kicking because his parents told him he wasn’t allowed to play anything else on the football field.

But once he got to Valencia, he took the sport more seriously. In the first year after his transfer, he faced off against West Ranch, his former team. The student section, made up mostly of friends and old classmates, heckled and tried to distract him as he lined up for a 40-plus yard field goal.

Yet their efforts didn’t work. He raced to the sideline celebrating his kick and hushing the opposing crowd. 

It was Malette who helped Murphy develop the skill he showcased at the Chris Sailer Kicking Camp in Las Vegas. That’s where he first got the attention of colleges. Soon after making a 55-yard field goal at the camp, he received a call from Syracuse Special Teams Quality Control coach Chris Gould.

“They were set on me before anybody else,” Murphy said. “It was really different from every other college. All of the other colleges, they’d come down to visit and say I’m talking to you and five other guys today. There was a different feeling.”

In high school, Murphy was a motivator and tried to pump his team up. But in his first few months with the Orange he’s been more reserved. SU defensive line coach Tim Daoust said he doesn’t show much emotion.

For the most part, he hasn’t been given a reason to.

But after his 49-yard kick hooked inside the left side of the uprights against Maryland, he let his excitement seep through. His teammates mobbed him by the 40-yard-line. As he ran back to the team bench, he greeted players and coaches with emphatic high-fives.

Norton was supposed to take the kick, but after a penalty moved the Orange back five yards, Daoust thought Murphy had a better chance.

Murphy didn’t have time to think about it. All he had to do was kick.

“When they threw me in there I just had to snap into it,” Murphy said. “I had to figure out everything in a millisecond. It didn’t really hit me until after I had done it, that I was in there making my first collegiate field goal.”

And in that millisecond, he went from a player fighting for a chance, to a player seizing one.

Published on September 30, 2014 at 12:15 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3