Committed Murray Turns Recruiter For Georgia

By BRETT McMURPHY The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 5, 2008

TAMPA - Austin Long's head was spinning. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound junior from Memphis, Tenn., hadn't decided where he would attend college.

Rated the nation's ninth-best offensive tackle by Scout.com, Long had offers from several Southeastern Conference schools and also drew interest from Florida State and North Carolina.

Long had heard hundreds of recruiting pitches from the most persuasive college coaches in America. Ultimately, he was swayed by the words of a teenager from Tampa.

A 17-year-old named Aaron Murray.

"I really thought about [where I would commit] and talked to my parents about it and prayed about it," Long told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. "Then I was talking to Aaron Murray and he really helped. I asked him all kinds of questions and if he was still happy now that he has committed.

"He told me he was happy and he was going to recruit me until I committed. He told me he wanted to be a part of the No. 1 recruiting class."

One of the nation's top quarterbacks who threw for a state-record 51 TDs last season, Murray has yet to attempt a pass for Georgia.

The Plant High junior can't even play until the fall of 2009, at the earliest. But he made a huge impact on the college football landscape April 24 by uttering: "I humbly and proudly accept my offer to the University of Georgia."

Then four days later, Long committed to the Bulldogs.

"Murray's commitment is huge for Georgia," said Jamie Newberg, national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. "You're talking about one of the top teams going into this year and now they're getting one of the top quarterbacks in the country.

"There's a lot of publicity surrounding that and the way things work now, with kids texting each other and recruiting each other."

Murray said that after he committed to Georgia, he tracked down Long's number.

"He told me, 'you pretty much closed the deal,' " Murray said. "One of my goals by committing early is [to] be that catalyst and leader for the '09 class for Georgia. It's my opportunity to talk to some of the top guys in the nation and sway them to our side.

"I look at it as my little job."

Murray, who received more than 50 scholarship offers, including one from Colorado the day after his Georgia commitment, knows the stress from the recruiting process.

"I didn't want to be another recruiter, harassing him," Murray said. "He asked me why I chose Georgia over Florida and some other schools. I talked to him about it. I told him we need to keep getting more guys like him.

"He was cool. We hit it off pretty good."

Murray's recruiting is contagious.

After Long committed, he said he immediately called Memphis Harding Academy's Marlon Brown, rated the nation's No. 2 wide receiver by Rivals.com.

"I told him, I was going to start working on him," Long told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Georgia coach Mark Richt said, in general, players are committing earlier because the recruiting process "can be very tiring."

"One of the big reasons is the amount of attention that recruiting gets," Richt said. "It can be very tiring to the family and high school coach. There is so much hype and so many entities that have the ability to call a house - recruiting services, newspapers - there's so much of that going on, they get tired of it.

"A coach would rather have a young man committed and settled so he can concentrate on his senior season. He can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the experience of being a senior and a leader."

Richt said it's natural for a committed player to seek other good players.

"All players want their class to be a good one," Richt said. "Those kids get to know the [the other recruits]. They like to help the cause."

Newberg said commitments by high school juniors are up 500 percent from the same time period five years ago. He questions why schools take the risk of getting so many early commitments.

"If [a recruit] has a bad injury or does something stupid, a variety of things, I often wonder why they offer so early," Newberg said. "You never know what they'll do as a senior. Do they get lazy?

"I think Aaron will go in there and work his tail off, but committing early adds more pressure. You have to live up to it."

Murray said committing early relieved a lot of stress. It also allowed him to help persuade other blue-chip stars across the country that Georgia should be on their mind.

"I try not to bug them too much," Murray said. "I don't want to be like a recruiter. I'm just some kid who's gone through the [recruiting] process. I'm just trying to help them out the best I can.

"I obviously favor Georgia and want to get some guys to Georgia with me."

Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928 or bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com.