Austin Prep's Murphy Commits to Northeastern

Northeastern University received a commitment from a big, shutdown defender on Tuesday evening. Austin Prep '98 right defenseman Collin Murphy took to Twitter to announce his verbal commitment to Jim Madigan's Huskies.

Honored to announce my commitment to play college hockey at Northeastern University. Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way.#huskies

— Collin Murphy (@collinmurphy18) September 23, 2015

The six-foot-two Murphy will be a junior at the Reading, Mass. high school where he plays for former Merrimack volunteer assistant Louis Finocchiaro. The Cougars are annually one of the top programs in Massachusetts high school hockey, producing the likes of current Boston University forward Bobo Carpenter and Terrier alum Ross Gaudet.

Murphy, who is a very good student, played in this summer's USA Hockey Select 17 Festival. He struggled adjusting to the speed of the game coming from Massachusetts high school hockey, but he showed flashes.

He has a very good stick and does a nice job on gap control. He's hard for opposing forwards to beat one-on-one and has a lengthy reach. He's not a flashy player, but he can make some heady lead passes to start the transition.

Murphy, whose father played college football at Boston College, had several other offers from Hockey East and Ivy League schools. He projects to arrive at Northeastern for the fall of 2018, but could be pushed up to 2017.

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Jeff Cox covers college, junior, high school and prep hockey, NCAA recruiting and NHL Draft prospects. Follow him on Twitter @JeffCoxSports.