In the months of June and July, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2019 roster.
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No. 49 Andrzej Hughes-Murray
Bio
6-foot-2, 242-pounds
Outside Linebacker
Senior
Federal Way, Wash.
Federal Way HS
Career Quick Hits
- Has 78 tackles - 47 solo - with 9.5 for a loss in 30 games, including 19 starts
- Also has two blocks, one pass deflection and one fumble recovery
- 2017 and 2018 Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention team member
2018 stats
- Played in all 12 games, making 11 starts
- Tallied 33 tackles - 18 solo - with 5.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and one quarterback hurry
- Recorded TFLs in five consecutive games to end the season: at Colorado, vs. USC, at Stanford, at Washington and vs. Oregon.
- Picked up sacks versus USC, Stanford and Washington
- Finished with six tackles twice - at Colorado and at Washington
- Opened the season with back-to-back four tackle games at Ohio State and versus Southern Utah
- Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention
2018 Recap
Despite the poor overall defensive play from the Beavers in 2018, Hughes-Murray quietly emerged as one of the most reliable negative-play playmakers that the Beavers have.
He ranked second on the team in tackles for loss (5.5), and was first in sacks (3), showing that he's the ideal outside-linebacker for Tim Tibesar's defensive scheme. When looking at the past outside linebackers that Tibs has coached, they all do one thing really really well.
Make negative plays.
Whether it was TJ Watt, Joe Schobert, or Vince Beigel at Wisconsin, Tibesar's outside-linebackers had a knack for making negative plays and wrecking havoc on opposing QB's from the edges.
While he still has areas needing improvement, Hughes-Murray is a guy who is really going to benefit from being in a really good defensive system that favors outside linebackers.
While Hamilcar Rashed was Oregon State's most productive outside-linebacker last season, Hughes-Murray wasn't far behind as he finished the year very strong (five straight games with a TFL) and showed that he's an ideal fit for Tibesar's scheme.
2019 Outlook
Like many of the other Oregon State defenders, there's a big expectation that Hughes-Murray will up his game and help anchor the outside-linebacking corps as it's only senior.
With 30 games played and 19 starts over his three seasons, Hughes-Murray is one of Oregon State's most experienced defensive presences. He'll be relied on by the coaching staff early on as a large influx of new talent arrived in the offseason and he'll be expected to embrace a bigger leadership role as a senior.
While Hughes-Murray figures to be one of the foundational pieces for Tibesar's defense this season, it will be interesting to see how the Beavers deploy him.
Oregon State now has a variety of options at the outside-linebacker position with Addison Gumbs joining an already promising group. Given that the outside linebackers is where Tibesar is Tibesar's area of expertise, I expect Hughes-Murray to take another step forward and have a solid senior campaign.
