Education
Murphy attended Chapel Hill High School in Tyler, Texas where he had a core Grade Point Average of 3.6. He also played quarterback and in his two years at quarterback he passed for more than 2,500 yards, rushed for over 1,100 yards and totaled over 25 touchdowns in combined seasons at Chapel Hill. He was the Offensive 16-4A District Most Valuable Player in 2000 and signed with Texas Agricultural and Mechanical. He was the first and only Tyler Chapel Hill player to be drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft.
Murphy attended Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, where he became one of the best receivers in school history.
He was two-time 1st Team All-Big 12 (wide receiver and kick returner) and was three-time Academic All-Big 12 in his four seasons at Agricultural and Mechanical. He switched to wide receiver and returned kickoffs after never playing either position before in his career.
He was a team captain twice, in 2003 and 2004, and finished his career with a school record 172 receptions for 2,600 yards (151 yards per rec avg) and ten touchdowns, 17 rushing attempts for 209 yards (123 yards per rush avg), and 31 kickoff returns for 761 yards (2455 yards per kickoff ret avg). He finished his career with 3,615 total all-purpose yards in four seasons, most ever by an Aggie receiver.
He was named to Sporting News All-American Team twice in his career, in 2001 and 2003. He is the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical record holder in the vertical jump (for all varsity sports including basketball) with a jump of 42 inches.
He was named to the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical All-Decade Team.
He played in two bowl games during his career, the 2001 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl and the 2005 Cotton Bowl Classic. He also was the first wide receiver to break 2,000 receiving yards in school history.