Clemson’s talented defense from 2022 had a big night Thursday on the first night of the NFL Draft. Two of their top frontline players, DE Myles Murphy and DT Bryan Bresee, heard their names called late in round one. Murphy was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals with the 28th pick. One pick later, the New Orleans Saints chose Bresee.
From Clemson:
The consecutive selections of Murphy and Bresee gave Clemson back-to-back first-round picks in a single draft for the first time in program history. The duo became the third Clemson tandem to be drafted back-to-back in any round all-time, joining Chris Clemons and Michael Hamlin in 2009 and Marcus Gilchrist and Da’Quan Bowers in 2011.
Clemson has produced at least one first-round pick in nine of the last 11 drafts. Clemson is one of only five schools with at least one first-round pick in at least nine of the last 11 drafts, alongside Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Ohio State.
Thursday’s first-round marked the eighth NFL Draft in which Clemson has produced multiple first-round picks, joining the 1979, 1982, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021 first rounds. Clemson has had multiple players selected in the first round in four of the last five — and six of the last nine — drafts.
ON MYLES MURPHY: HEAD COACH DABO SWINNEY:
“On pure talent, I would probably name Myles with Gaines Adams as far as the combination of length, strength, athleticism, ability to bend, natural explosive power. He is really, really, really special. I think with another year he may have been the first pick in the draft. I think he has that type of talent. I mean, there’s not many people walking the planet that have first overall pick type of talent, but Myles Murphy does. The Bengals are getting him at a value because he’s still a developing player. He was at Clemson for three seasons — two-and-a-half years. He’s an incredibly smart kid, loves football. His dad played pro football. He’s been around it his whole life but his best football is still in front of him. I’m just really excited about seeing him take that next step. He’s just a rare talent. A great kid, very smart and a very cerebral player. Incredibly strong and can fly, you know? You just don’t see guys that can move like him and bend. He’s going to be a great one.
ON BRYAN BRESEE: HEAD COACH DABO SWINNEY:
“Bryan is a guy that could be a Pro Bowler for years to come. He has that in him. And I’m just excited for the Saints because his best football is in front of him. He’s really gotten himself healthy, but this kid has been through so much. He had a great freshman year, missed his second year, got hurt, tore his ACL, and then he comes back and obviously his sister passing, he missed a lot of time and then he had a kidney issue. When this guy is on the field, everybody in the stadium notices. I mean, that’s just who he is, and he’s been that way at every level of football of his life from pee wee to middle school to high school to college. It won’t be any different in the pros; when he’s on the field, everybody will notice him. And the good news for him is, again, he is a high-value, first-round type talent that was available just based on where he is in his development.
CLEMSON NOTES:
– Clemson has now had at least one player selected in the NFL Draft in 21 consecutive years, trailing only the 1951-74 NFL Drafts — a span of 24 years — for the longest streak in school history.
– Clemson has produced at least one first-round pick in nine of the last 11 drafts.
– Clemson, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Ohio State are the only five schools with at least one first-round pick in at least nine of the last 11 drafts.
– The 2023 NFL Draft is the eighth in which Clemson has produced multiple first-round picks, joining the 1979, 1982, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021 first rounds. In all but one of those instances (1982), all of the selections came from one side of the ball.
– Clemson has had multiple players selected in the first round in four of the last five — and six of the last nine — drafts.
– Clemson produced multiple first-round picks on defense for the fourth time in school history, joining the 2015 (DE Vic Beasley and LB Stephone Anthony), 2019 (DE Clelin Ferrell, DT Christian Wilkins and DT Dexter Lawrence) and 2020 (LB Isaiah Simmons and CB A.J. Terrell) NFL Drafts.
– Dabo Swinney pushed his number of first-round picks in his head coaching tenure to 17, the second-most of any active coach.
– With consecutive selections of Myles Murphy and Bryan Bresee with the No. 28 and No. 29 picks, respectively, Clemson produced back-to-back first-round picks in a single draft for the first time in program history.
– Murphy and Bresee became the third Clemson tandem to be drafted back-to-back in any round all-time, joining Chris Clemons and Michael Hamlin in 2009 and Marcus Gilchrist and Da’Quan Bowers in 2011.
NOTES ON THE SELECTION OF MYLES MURPHY:
– Murphy became the 72nd player in Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure to be drafted into the NFL, including the 16th first-round pick of Swinney’s tenure.
– Murphy became Clemson’s 37th first-round pick in NFL Draft history.
– Murphy became the sixth Clemson defensive lineman selected in the first round since 2015, joining DE Vic Beasley (No. 8 in 2015), DE Shaq Lawson (No. 19 in 2016), DE Clelin Ferrell (No. 4 in 2019), DT Christian Wilkins (No. 13 in 2019) and DE Dexter Lawrence (No. 17 in 2019).
– Murphy’s selection marked the seventh time in the last nine years that a defensive player was Clemson’s first selection in a draft. The two exceptions in that nine-year span came in 2017 (WR Mike Williams at No. 7) and 2021 (QB Trevor Lawrence at No. 1).
– Murphy became the Bengals’ sixth all-time selection from Clemson, joining TE Jim Riggs (1987), DT Donald Broomfield (1999), DT Brandon Thompson (2012), WR Tee Higgins (2020) and OL Jackson Carman (2021).
– Murphy became the highest-selected Clemson player in Bengals history, surpassing Tee Higgins’ selection with the No. 33 overall pick in 2020.
– Murphy became Clemson’s third No. 28 overall pick in history, joining Steelers TE Bennie Cunningham (1976) and Broncos DE Trevor Pryce (1997), both of whom went on to become multi-time Super Bowl champions.
NOTES ON THE SELECTION OF BRYAN BRESEE:
– Bresee became the 73rd player in Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure to be drafted into the NFL, including the 17th first-round pick of Swinney’s tenure.
– Bresee became Clemson’s 38th first-round pick in NFL Draft history.
– Bresee became the seventh Clemson defensive lineman selected in the first round since 2015, joining DE Vic Beasley (No. 8 in 2015), DE Shaq Lawson (No. 19 in 2016), DE Clelin Ferrell (No. 4 in 2019), DT Christian Wilkins (No. 13 in 2019), DE Dexter Lawrence (No. 17 in 2019) and Murphy (one pick earlier).
– Bresee became the fifth Clemson player selected by the Saints all-time, joining RB Cliff Austin (1983), DT Tony Stephens (1988), WR Gary Cooper (1990) and LB Stephone Anthony (2015).
– Bresee became the highest-selected Clemson player in Saints history, surpassing Stephone Anthony’s selection with the No. 31 overall pick in 2020.
– Bresee became Clemson’s first No. 29 overall selection in school history.
