One of Clemson’s star players has responded to being called out publicly for his performance earlier this season.

That’s the way Clemson coach Dabo Swinney sees it. It’s why Myles Murphy believed Swinney singled out the Tigers’ star defensive end for loafing against Furman in the second game of the season. Murphy had four tackles in 34 snaps that game and followed it up with just three stops in 38 snaps against Louisiana Tech the following week.

“His intent is to see how I’m going to respond to that,” Murphy said earlier this month about being called out by his coach.

The next week, Murphy, widely projected to be taken early in next year’s NFL Draft, was taken out of the starting lineup in a key road game against Wake Forest. That’s what Swinney pinpoints as the moment that really got Murphy’s attention.

“I put him on the sideline, and he didn’t like it,” Swinney said Tuesday. “He likes to run out there first, but you’ve got to play well.”

Since then, taking plays off hasn’t been much of an issue for Murphy. The 6-foot-5, 275-pounder has 19 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss in the last four games, and he’s coming off his best statistical performance of the season.

Murphy tied a season-high with six tackles and notched a season-high 3.5 tackles for loss. Part of that was his first multi-sack game of the season, one of which resulted in a fumble that set the offense up with a short field. It resulted in points for Clemson in the Tigers’ 34-28 win.

It wasn’t that Murphy was playing “terrible” early in the season, as Swinney put it. But Swinney said Murphy has gotten the message when it comes to being consistent with his effort.

“He had two or three loafs on tape, and we can’t have that. Not to get where we want to go,” Swinney said. “So just a little bit of accountability. He’s coachable. He just took ownership of it, and he’s responded as great players do.”

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

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