Murray stakes claim as Navy starter

Vince Murray was determined to follow in his father's footsteps and become a fighter pilot. Murray's path toward reaching that goal became clearer when the Naval Academy recruited him for football.

John Murray served nearly eight years of active duty in the United States Navy, flying an attack airplane known as the A-7 out of Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fla. He later flew an F-18 during a 12-year stint in the Naval Reserve.

"I have wanted to fly jets for as long as I can remember. I look up to my dad and I know that was one of the proudest aspects of his life, serving the country," Murray said. "We've had someone from every generation of my family serve in the military."

Greg Phillips, Murray's grandfather on his mother's side, served 20 years in the Air Force and flew rescue helicopters in Vietnam.

"Vince started talking about flying fighter jets while he was in high school. I have not pushed that idea one bit. In fact, I have some reservations because it's kind of a dangerous thing," said John Murray, now a pilot with Delta. "Vince has been hearing about military flying for a long time from me and his grandfather. I guess it made an impact."

The Naval Academy was Murray's top choice and he was thrilled when assistant coach Joe Speed called and said the coaching staff was impressed with his highlight tape.

"I grew up always watching the Army-Navy game with my dad and I ultimately wanted to play in that game," Murray said.

Murray was a force on both sides of the ball as a senior at Ryle High in Ohio, rushing for 1,820 yards and 28 touchdowns as a tailback and piling up 133 tackles as an inside linebacker. He was the Cincinnati Enquirer Player of the Year after leading Ryle High to a berth in the Class 4A state championship for the first time.

"Vince really put the team on his shoulders and carried it to the state championship game," seventh-year Ryle head coach Bryson Warner said. "Vince is, without question, the best player we've ever had in the program. He was everything any high school coach would dream of: Great student, great character and great leader. He was the type of guy who would do anything that was asked of him."

That attitude and those attributes have helped Murray make a rapid ascension up the Navy depth chart, moving from fourth fullback last season to starter this season. The 6-foot-1, 217-pound junior became No. 1 due to an ankle injury suffered by season-opening starter Alexander Teich, but seized the position outright by rushing for a career-high 141 yards and two touchdowns against SMU last Saturday.

Standing inside the joyous Navy locker room at Gerald J. Ford Stadium afterward, Murray admitted he is making better decisions in the hole due to improved vision and understanding of what the defense is doing.

"When you first get in there it seems like everything is going a million miles an hour. But the more experience you get, the more comfortable you become and things start to slow down," he said. "You start seeing things better and it becomes easier to make the reads and the proper cuts."

Strength and conditioning coach Mike Brass deserves credit for Murray's improvement during the off-season. Murray stayed at the academy for a longer stretch during the summer and lost five pounds while getting stronger through

"My goal was to get into the best possible shape that I could and Coach Brass helped me out a lot. I lost some weight, got toned up and worked really hard to improve my speed," Murray said.

Fullbacks coach Mike Judge said Murray has simply matured after being in Navy's triple-option system for three years.

"Vince works extremely hard and does it in such a quiet, unassuming fashion. He has gotten better with every single practice repetition he's taken," Judge said. "Vince is very hard-working, very attentive to detail and takes coaching to heart. If we teach him to do something in the film room, he will go out to practice and try to apply it."

Murray appeared somewhat tentative and was slow in hitting the hole after replacing an injured Teich and seeing extensive action against Air Force. The Kentucky native showed improvement in his first career start versus Rice, rushing for 62 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries. Then came the breakthrough performance versus SMU in which Murray ran with complete confidence and decisiveness.

"Vince is certainly seeing things much better now. He's gotten more than 100 consecutive game repetitions and there is no question he's becoming more comfortable," Judge said. "You can rep in practice all you want, but until you do it at full speed in a game, it's just not the same."