Indiana's Caleb Murphy on First Start: 'My Whole Life's Led Up to This Moment'

Redshirt sophomore Caleb Murphy was thrown into the starting lineup for the first time last Saturday after center Zach Carpenter went down with a hand injury in pregame warmups. Coming from West Washington High School, a Class 1A school in Campbellsburg, Ind., Murphy always dreamed of playing at Indiana, and starting was a dream come true.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Todd Murphy received a simple, yet life-changing text message while sitting in section 10 of Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

“Caleb’s starting.”

The text was from Keith Nance, the superintendent of West Washington schools and a close friend, informing Todd that his son, Caleb, was gearing up for his first-career start. After starting center Zach Carpenter suffered a right hand injury in pregame warmups that Indiana coach Tom Allen called a “freak accident,” and with backup center Cameron Knight wearing a walking boot on his left foot, it was time for Caleb to step up.

Next man up.

Indiana offensive line coach Darren Hiller recalls approaching Caleb in the locker room prior to kickoff. Before Hiller could say anything, Caleb looked him in the eye and said, ‘I’m ready.’ With such short notice, Caleb said he had no time to be nervous. He fell back on his preparation, and he was excited to prove himself.

Meanwhile, Caleb’s family and friends were in the stands freaking out. Todd arrived thinking he'd see his son Caleb play a handful of snaps on Indiana’s special teams unit like normal, but the Murphy family’s day carried on as anything but normal.

“It was an emotional roller coaster,” Todd said. “I cried most of the game because we were just so excited and just so happy to see him do what he loves to do and what he's passionate about doing, and that's playing football."

Caleb played every snap, and Indiana generated 484 yards of offense in its 33-30 overtime win over Western Kentucky. Caleb was named Indiana’s Offensive Player of the Game, and when time expired, the emotions poured out when he ran to meet his family.

"It was really important to me,” Caleb said. My whole life's led up to this moment.”

It was really important to everyone named Murphy.

“To be able to see someone work so hard and see their dream come true right in front of your eyes, to be able to play and contribute to that football team means the world to you,” Todd said. “It was pretty incredible."

Seeing Murphy step up meant the world to Allen, too, because they've had a close bond since the minute he first started recruiting him. Three years, this first start was special.

“You can win a lot of games with guys that are smart, tough, dependable and have a high, high care factor,” Allen said. “It means something for him to put that jersey on and represent his whole community.”

Love this team! #LEO pic.twitter.com/096sVR5H0B

— Caleb Murphy (@Caleb_Murphy93) September 18, 2022

The last football game Caleb started was in Week 1 of his senior year at West Washington High School in 2019 when he suffered a broken collarbone that sidelined him for the season. Coming from Class 1A high school in Campbellsburg, Ind., a town with around 500 people near Salem in southern Indiana, a lifelong dream to play Indiana University football may have seemed impossible to some. But with a tireless work ethic, he overcame the odds.

He plays with determination, grit, a heavy heart and two bracelets around his wrist that say “Bowsman Strong” and “Donate Life.” These bracelets honor Phillip Bowsman, the West Washington High School football coach who passed away during Caleb’s senior year. Bowsman suffered a stroke while coaching the semi-state playoff game and died the following Monday. His son, Hunter Bowsman, was the team's quarterback and one of Caleb's best friends.

In Caleb’s first start for the Hoosiers, he played with his high school coaches in mind, his family, community and all those who supported him along the way.

“To know coach Bowsman was a really big deal,” Caleb said. “Coach Bowsman did a lot for me through high school and impacted me in a lot of ways, so to know he had the best seat in the house was pretty cool.”

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Caleb Murphy was an All-State selection by the Indiana Football Coaches Association following his junior year at West Washington. He played on both sides of the ball, which is common for a talented athlete at a small school, and helped him become a well-rounded athlete.

West Washington produced collegiate athletes in the past, but never one that received a full-ride scholarship to a Power 5 school. That was Caleb’s goal – to earn a scholarship to play football for Indiana University. There was no past blueprint to follow, and he knew there were obstacles blocking his dreams he just had to push them away.

Caleb’s father, Todd, recalls parts of his son’s daily routine throughout high school. He headed to the YMCA around 5 a.m. to work out, followed by advanced physical education during school and multiple hours of football practice after school. When he came home, it was time for even more training. Caleb had a tractor tire that he flipped across the backyard. He ran extra sprints and worked on pass blocking and footwork.

“He’s working harder than I've ever seen anybody work for a dream that somewhat seemed impossible,” Todd said. “But if it was impossible, it wasn't going to be impossible because he didn't give everything he could give to make it possible. If it was going to be impossible it was going to be for things he couldn't control.”

He was hungry for ways to improve in the offseason and saw wrestling as a way to do so. There was one problem. West Washington didn’t have a wrestling team. Murphy’s shop teacher was the wrestling coach at Salem High School, West Washington’s rival, so Murphy got a petition signed and asked the teacher if he’d be the coach. Murphy said wrestling during his sophomore and junior years helped with body control, which made him a better athlete in the trenches on the football field.

He was putting in the work to build himself into a Division I-caliber athlete, but getting noticed at a Class 1A school was perhaps the biggest obstacle. The coaching staff at West Washington helped Murphy send his film to college coaches, informed him of camps to go to and anything to get his name out there.

“Proving that I can play against good caliber athletes was something I really had to prove through high school and growing up coming from such a small community,” Murphy said.

Murphy had double-digit scholarship offers by the summer between his junior and senior year, but not one yet from Allen and Indiana. Allen liked what he saw from Murphy, but he wasn’t sure how he would pan out, positionally. Allen called him a “jumbo guy,” maybe he’d play defensive end, maybe tight end, maybe offensive line.

“We didn't offer him right away,” Allen said. “But I knew he's what we were looking for. Just the passion, the toughness, the fight. I talked to his high school coaches and the people there in his community, which we do, and he just had those internal qualities of character and discipline and the high-care factor.”

Caleb always wanted to play for Indiana, and after meeting with Allen in his office, his parents were sold, too. Todd is a minister in their small, close-knit southern Indiana town, and he said Allen’s values of faith and building quality men outside of football aligned with the way he raised Caleb.

“I knew then that I probably didn't want any other man to have influence over Caleb other than Coach Allen,” Todd said. "To me, it was an absolute perfect fit.”

Later that summer, Caleb and Todd were at a football camp outside of Chicago. When the camp was over, the phone call that Caleb desired for so long finally came. Allen offered Caleb a scholarship, and he immediately accepted.

"It was huge, this was my dream school,” Caleb said. “It was where I wanted to be, so to get that offer was a dream come true, and showed that all my hard work from high school was worth something and it was really awesome for me and my family to get that offer."

I couldn’t have done it without all the people behind me! Pen to paper, I’m officially a Hoosier!! ⚪️🔴#LEO pic.twitter.com/tJdZvNnqSK

— Caleb Murphy (@Caleb_Murphy93) December 19, 2019

A few weeks later, Caleb took a hard fall at a camp at Indiana and fractured his collarbone. He rehabbed the injury in time for West Washington’s season opener, but when he dove to recover a fumble, he fractured his collarbone for a second time. And this time, it would require surgery that sidelined Caleb for the rest of his senior season. Allen said to not worry about losing his scholarship offer, but it still hurt Caleb to miss his last year playing for West Washington.

“I remember how hard and devastating that was when he missed that season,” Todd said. We get a little worried about that, but that's where our faith comes back to get us through that anxiety and worry. We have our faith to be able to help us do that."

Despite missing his senior season, Caleb was ranked as the No. 6 player in the state of Indiana and a top-50 defensive end in the nation. He was headed to his dream school, and after making his first start against Western Kentucky, he reflected on what it meant for him and his family.

“To be able to look up in the crowd and see my dad emotional, see him happy that I'm playing, see my mom, that was really big for me,” Caleb said. “They've helped me get to where I am and I really appreciate them for that.”

Caleb Murphy (55) reacts to Indiana kicker Charles Campbell's (93) game-winning 51-yard field goal against Western Kentucky on Sept. 17 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind / Indiana Athletics

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Caleb Murphy left West Washington a semester early, knowing how valuable extra months of weight training and conditioning at Indiana could be for his future. He started as a defensive lineman when he joined the Hoosiers in January of 2020, but he bounced between tight end and defensive line for the greater part of a year as the Indiana coaching staff figured out where he’d fit best.

“Coach, I'll play wherever, whatever you want me to do,” Allen remembers Murphy saying.

He moved to offensive line for good in the spring of 2021, and Indiana offensive line coach Darren Hiller recalls Murphy expressing the desire to play center at first. Murphy said he wanted to help the team with his communication and leadership skills, which made center a good fit for him.

Hiller thought it would be wise to begin Murphy’s development at guard, and he related the process to what Indiana guard Mike Katic went through. Katic originally started at center, but Hiller thought he was too caught up in snapping the ball that it negatively impacted his blocking, so he moved Katic to guard.

That spring, Murphy played guard almost exclusively, but he still practiced center-quarterback exchange with the long-term positional projection in mind. Hiller said the transition came with some growing pains as he learned the nuances, fundamentals and techniques of the position.

“He would literally get to the point where he was smacking himself in the head, getting frustrated at himself,” Hiller said. “But I kept telling him to keep grinding at it, keep grinding at it. Over, and over and over through the summer, you talk about a guy that was up here doing drill work probably every single day, that was Caleb Murphy more so than anybody on our team. 

"We don't keep track of that, but I know that [Murphy] was in the building, he's in the weight room, he's watching game film, he's on the practice field, he’s on the sleds, doing whatever he can because he knew he just had to bank reps.”

GROWING as a man and athlete in 2022#LEO #BUILD @CoachAllenIU pic.twitter.com/3oYtbdBznr

— Caleb Murphy (@Caleb_Murphy93) January 22, 2022

Hiller saw major improvements from Murphy in fall camp, which showed when he stepped in for Carpenter against Western Kentucky. Hiller said there are some fundamentals and techniques that Murphy needs to improve, but he wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment.

Murphy often came to the sideline realizing he might have done something wrong on a certain play, but Hiller said he’s a smart player who’s in tune with making adjustments. Hiller said Murphy was far from perfect in his first start, but his grit and toughness were key in helping Indiana win the game.

“You can't talk about a guy that's got any more passion for Indiana University than Caleb Murphy,” Hiller said.

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Murphy thought he did a good job in his first career start against Western Kentucky, but he said he needs to make a lot of improvements on the small details and techniques heading into a road trip to Cincinnati. Indiana carries a 3-0 record into this matchup, but enters Nippert Stadium as a 16.5-point underdog.

In the week leading up to this game, Todd described his motions as “a fun kind of nervous wreck.” He’s excited to watch Caleb play, but he can’t help but feel anxious before games.

Caleb Murphy prepares for Indiana football's game against Cincinnati on Saturday 3:30 p.m. ET at Nippert Stadium.  / Indiana Athletics

“I don't eat a lot on Saturday because I get so nervous,” Todd said. “But now we're at a whole other level because I want to see Caleb succeed and see him be his very best.”

From Todd’s research, Cincinnati’s defensive line will be a step up in competition for the Indiana offensive line, but like always, he’ll be there in support. Since Caleb started playing football at 6 years old, the only games Todd has ever missed came in the 2020 season when they couldn’t travel to road games because of COVID-19. Even then, Todd joked he wanted to sneak in as a maintenance man to watch his son play.

“When you have children, you just want to see them do what they love to do and what they're passionate about doing, and Caleb loves IU football.”

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