Murchison Making 'Eye Opening' Transition to NFL
Larrell Murchison has made successful transitions before.
So even though the adjustment from college football to the NFL is much more difficult than those from high school to junior college and junior college to the ACC, he sees no reason to change an approach that works during his rookie training camp with the Tennessee Titans.
"One of my biggest things, and this has always been me, is always just focusing on one day at a time, taking things off tape and just improving on every little thing," the former NC State star said during a Zoom conference Friday.
"One day somebody will tell me to do this better and then the next practice, I'm a guy that picks up from where I left off last practice. It's a one day at a time process for me and I'm just trying to continue to pick things up."
Murchison, a 6-foot-3, 291-pound defensive tackle, was the Titans' fifth-round pick in this year's NFL draft.
Although he admits that his first professional experience has been "eye opening," he's anything but intimidated as he puts in the work necessary to contribute to his new team this season.
"Just learning the defensive terminology, the ways they want some things done and adjusting to my new teammates, things like that have been a challenge for me," he said. "Every rep counts and I'm trying my best to show I'm improving on everything they want me to."
Murchison is what his former coach with the Wolfpack, Dave Doeren, calls a one-time player -- meaning that he only needs to he showed something one time before he picks it up and incorporates it into his game.
It's a trait that could come in particularly handy this year, since the NFL is going straight into the regular season without playing any exhibition games because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Every day, no matter how big or small it is, I know there's something I can improve on," said the All-ACC selection, who led State with 7.5 sacks last season. "Every little thing I see and that the coaches see and they let me know, I write it down and it's on to the next time to try and fix it."
Murchison and the Titans are scheduled to open their 2020 season on Monday night, Sept. 14 at Denver against a Broncos team that features another former Wolfpack defensive line standout -- Bradley Chubb.
He got his first taste of what that might be like recently when the Titans practiced for the first time on their actual home field, Nissan Stadium.
"You just look and get out there and you're like 'Man, all the legends that played here,'" Murchison said. "This is huge. This is the NFL. It's eye-opening, but that lasts for about two seconds. Next thing you know, you've got to lock in and get ready for practice. That's my whole process of it."
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