Justin Murphy started the first four games for the Houston Cougars in 2019 on the offensive line (three games at right guard, one game at right tackle), but is no longer on the team. It was originally reported on Tuesday that the sixth-year graduate transfer (who began his career with Texas Tech and spent 2018 on the UCLA football team) quit the Houston football team.
But on Thursday night, Murphy went into detail claiming that head coach Dana Holgorsen and the Houston football program have been asking seniors to redshirt following the team’s 1-3 start (they’re now 2-3). As Murphy put it in the first of many tweets in his thread, “A senior class that is the first group to experience a head coach and administration to actively tank a football season.”
Star quarterback D’Eriq King — who threw for 36 touchdowns (compared to just six interceptions) and ran for 14 touchdowns in 2018 — wide receiver Keith Corbin — 11 touchdowns, 192 yards, and two touchdowns this season — indeed went the redshirt route in-season.
Murphy offered more detail on his exit — as well as his health issues, which led to him being “advised by a doctor to medically retire” — and interactions with Holgorsen in the eye-opening thread. He also tagged Holgorsen’s Twitter handle on the thread’s final tweet.
So, that’s a hell of a thread. This if of course just Murphy’s side of things, but he sure went into detail with these accusations.
And the idea that the team is tanking has already been brought up to Holgorsen by the media. Naturally, Holgorsen denied that the team is tanking, calling it “absolute nonsense.” Now, the other side of this is that many supporters of the Houston football program surely are all about saving King and Corbin for 2020 after this 1-3 start derailed the hopes for a substantial bowl appearance in 2019.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.