Dalvin Cook knew there was something special about wide receiver Nyqwan Murray as soon as he saw him on Florida State’s practice fields last summer.
It wasn’t until Murray really started buying into the teachings of Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey, though, that Murray really started to flourish.
After a ragged freshman year in which he battled injuries and sometimes butted heads with the coaches -- Cook said Murray was jettisoned from practice on a couple of occasions -- the sophomore from Orlando has emerged as one of Florida State’s stars of this preseason.
“He’s starting to figure it out,” Cook said after FSU’s first preseason scrimmage Wednesday afternoon.
Murray, who goes by the nickname “Noonie,” is somewhat of an unlikely breakout candidate.
Coming out of high school, he was just a three-star recruit in another star-studded Florida State recruiting class. And at 5-foot-11 and 176 pounds, he is smaller in stature than all but two of the Seminoles’ 10 scholarship wide receivers.
“Noonie’s one of those guys who doesn’t play his size,” said Cook, FSU's star junior tailback. “He’s a small guy, compared to [the other] receivers. But he plays big. I like guys like that, that can lay it on the line. He’s starting to figure out what kind of player he is.
“He’s starting to figure out the player he can be – and the player I knew he could be.”
Although Murray played in just four games and caught only six passes last season, Cook said his emergence is not as “overnight” as it may seem. He said the sophomore worked overtime during the summer, both during player-run 7-on-7 passing sessions and when he would put in extra work on his own.
“He came to work every day,” Cook said.
Statistics were not made available following Wednesday’s scrimmage, which was closed to media and the public, but Cook and safety Derwin James both praised Murray’s performance.
