Murphy played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners. He was an All-Conference selection in 1982, 1983, and 1985 and an All-American in 1985. In a 247Sports article titled “Ranking Oklahoma’s 5 best football teams of all time,” Murphy was favorably mentioned regarding his “All-American” season while playing on ”Switzer’s third and final National Title team” in 1985.[5]