County High School’s commencement exercise “is a dream come true.” For quarterbacks and ball carriers playing in the Western Highlands Conference during the upcoming season, it’s probably a relief.
On Thursday, McMurray, the 2013 WHC Defensive Football Player of the Year, made it official, signing to play football at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory.
Playing college football, McMurray said, “has been a dream since I started playing rec. football when I was six.” The Wolverines’ strongest player last year, McMurray has been improving in that area since he joined the varsity as a sophomore.
He learned in just the past month and one-half that the Lenoir-Rhyne staff had targeted him for their team. Earlier this spring, McMurray said he “was nervous” over the lack of positive feedback. Recently he’d also spoken with officials at Brevard College and Sterling (Kansas) College. Until Lenoir-Rhyne offered him a scholarship, the wait was “very stressful,” McMurray admitted.
McMurray who will be red-shirted his freshman year, will join former Wolverine grid stars, Alec Philpott and Chase Harris, now playing football at L-R.

“I’m going to miss him,” stated Polk head coach Jamie Thompson, who noted that McMurray was a three year-two-way starter for the Wolverines. “He has a great mental game,” said Thompson. “He’s great at reading blocks, and he’s a great player against the trap.” Last year McMurray led the Wolverines in tackles for loss of yardage.
He works as judiciously academically as on the field, noted Thompson, who described him as “a hard-working student.” On the field he described McMurray as having “a great work ethic, and some nastiness.”
McMurray will join a team that has been conference champion three years running and made the national playoffs last year. The L-R coaching staff plans to insert McMurray on the defensive line or at defensive tackle, possibly as defensive end. Off the field, McMurray plans to major in business.