Player Profile: Phillip Murray

Phillip Murray current plays for University of Washington

Tell us about your UW Ultimate career

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Murray

I first started playing at UW in ’08. Which was also my first year playing. So I played a lot of D mostly because I had no clue how to cut or throw. I wasn’t very good and neither was the team. But it was super chill. ’09 I got better and so did the team. I figured out that I was fast and then figured out that most of cutting is just being fast. So I played a ton of offense. It helped that I looked exactly like Joe ‘BJ’ Sefton. I feel like most of the reason I played was to be a decoy. It definitely worked and still does to this day. Weasleys for life. That year we were good all year but didn’t quite have the edge to push us to Nationals. Sad day. The past two years have been awesome though. Last year we didn’t quite have the experience, we were young, dumb and rebuilding. It was chill, we had to overcome some obstacles and figure things out on the fly but we definitely got better. Also, I started to get a hang of the whole offense thing. And this year has just been a blast. We got a solid bunch of dudes together. It feels a lot like the 2009 team. A lot of fun and a lot of love.

What is your life outside ultimate like?

Courtesy of Washington Men's Ultimate

Outside of Ultimate I play a lot of basketball. Still working on my dunks but my three is smooth. I regularly run thecourts and am always looking to ball. I also watch and absurd amount of television and movies, listen to more music than is probably healthy for my ears and browse the internet – cat videos are pretty much best. Basically I’m a “pop culture connoisseur”. Oh yeah and I’m a “Geography” major in school. Ask me the capital of any state and I will look at you with pure disdain. (Did you know Michael Jordan was a Geography major at UNC. The more you know!)

What is your sports background and how did those skills transition into ultimate?

Growing up I played pretty much every sport, baseball, basketball, football, golf, tennis but not hockey. Never hockey. I hate hockey, (sorry Righty!). As suburban ginger from Houston, Texas I of course played basketball. Think about it, air-conditioned gyms away from the out of doors. Sunburns aren’t my friend. I ain’t trying to get melanoma up in here. My high school team played in back-to-back-to-back 5A State Championship games. They won the first one, then I made the team and we lost the next two. I never played, if only … Basketball taught me many things: 1) the motion offense 2) footwork 3) fade away jumpers 4) Shoot when you’re hot, shoot to get hot 5) trash talking. With these fundamentals you too can be like me!

Red hair, fair skin, freckles.  Got any bombshells about a Cloning program going on at UW?

Have you ever seen the movies ‘Deep Impact’ and ‘The Island’? It’s kinda like a mix between those except minus Leelee Sobieski and Scarlett Johansson. We all came to the same place to survive and ended up making clones of ourselves to live longer. So far, so good.

How did your ultimate career start? Do you have any idols or heroes?

Courtesy of Washington Men's Ultimate

I started playing in the fall of ’07. I was a freshman at UW, I had never played before but knew about Ultimate from my older brother, Elliott, who played at UNC. My idols are probably Elliott and Joe ‘BJ’ Sefton. They pretty much taught me everything. Oh yeah and Gilbert Arenas! He used to be the funniest player in the league and one of the most ridiculous scorers. Now not so much. I try to be all three of them at once, chill and tiggerish with a touch of swag. It works, somehow.

What’s the plan after college? (Ultimate and otherwise)