Former Demon OL Pace Murphy selected by Dallas in XFL Draft

NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State’s professional football legacy extended into a new realm Tuesday afternoon.

Former Demon offensive tackle Pace Murphy was selected in the second of 10 rounds of the offensive lineman portion of the XFL Draft, chosen by the Dallas Renegades.

Murphy, a 6-foot-6, 308-pound offensive lineman, was a two-time, second-team All-Southland Conference and All-Louisiana selection, earning those honors in his junior and senior seasons at Northwestern State before signing a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Rams in May 2016.

Murphy battled through training camp to earn a spot with the Rams for the 2016 season, the first of three seasons Murphy spent in the NFL. He was among the final cuts of Kansas City’s preseason roster in August. He appeared in two games that season with the Rams.

Murphy spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs practice squads.

As a senior at Northwestern State, Murphy was the Demons’ highest-graded offensive lineman, averaging an 84 percent grade while topping the 90-percent mark twice. Prior to his senior season, Murphy was named to the second-team USA College Football Preseason All-American list and was a first-team preseason All-Southland Conference selection.

In his junior season, Murphy graded out as the Demons’ top lineman in 10 games as part of an offense that helped quarterback Zach Adkins set five of the 14 school single-season marks established by the 2014 Northwestern State team.

Each of the eight XFL teams was assigned a quarterback prior to the draft. The XFL Draft was broken into positional sections. The eight teams selected skill positions before moving to offensive linemen in the first of the two-day draft.

Set to begin play in February 2020, the XFL’s eight teams are the Dallas Renegades, the DC Defenders, the Houston Roughnecks, the Los Angeles Wildcats, the New York Guardians, the St. Louis Battlehawks, the Seattle Dragons and the Tampa Bay Vipers.

Photos: Action shot of Pace Murphy and graphic of Murphy’s drafting by Dallas. Photo credit: Gary Hardamon/NSU Photographic Services. Graphic credit: NSU Athletics