Well, this is a tad bit awkward.
In announcing Monday that he had been granted a sixth season of eligibility, Justin Murphy was effusive in his praise of the work put in by the UCLA compliance department. “None of this could’ve been possible if it weren’t for the amazing job done at @UCLACompliance,” the offensive lineman wrote on Twitter. “Thank you for everything y’all do over there, it doesn’t go unnoticed!”
Two days later, however, Murphy took to Twitter again, only this time to announce that he “will be transferring to another university to finish out the last year of my college football career.”
Thank you UCLA and God Bless. pic.twitter.com/xY7txFLNfK
— Justin Murphy (@JMurphy_73) December 12, 2018
This latest development continues an “interesting” path Murphy’s collegiate career has taken.
In the middle of the 2016 season, Murphy, then at Texas Tech, announced that he was taking a medical retirement because of knee injuries. In April of 2018, however, Murphy revealed that he would be moving on from Tech to UCLA as a graduate transfer.
Murphy played in the first four games of his first season with the Bruins this year before going down with a knee injury. That issue kept the lineman sidelined for all but the final two games of the year.
At Tech, Murphy started a total of 12 games -- eight at right guard, four at tackle -- in a little over two seasons before leaving the Red Raiders midway through the 2016 season.