Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer/Minnesota Viking/Scottish Claymore Yo Murphy Joins Las Vegas Receiving Corp
News Courtesy of the Las Vegas Outlaws
LAS VEGAS (Monday, February 26, 2001) – The Western Division-leading Las Vegas Outlaws (3-1) added 29-year old WR Yo Murphy to their roster today, with the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Minnesota Viking and Scottish Claymore wideout becoming the second offensive addition in seven days. Nagging injuries to Outlaws WRs Todd Floyd (concussion), Nakia Jenkins (heel) and Brett Bech (back) necessitate the move. Las Vegas now has 24 hours to reduce its active roster to the XFL’s 45-man limit.
Murphy, whose legal name is Llewellyan but has always been called Yo because his sister couldn’t pronounce his real name, becomes the 12th former Scottish Claymore (see note below) to rejoin Head Coach Jim Criner and Offensive Coordinator Vince Alcalde on the current Outlaws roster. The 5’10”, 188-lb. veteran has spent the last four seasons with both Tampa Bay and Minnesota practice squads, and was active for a total of eight games during the 1999 season (seven with the Buccaneers and one with the Vikings). In 1999, Murphy made four catches for 28 yards, and returned 18 kickoffs and 3 punts for a total of 401 yards. His 55-yard kickoff return on 11/7/99 vs. New Orleans is the fifth-longest in Buccaneer history.
“I’m excited to get to Las Vegas and just play football,” said Murphy, who arrives in Las Vegas late Monday. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to play for Jim (Criner) and Vince (Alcalde) again. In Scotland, we had guys on the team that they know will work hard in practice and go out and make plays. That’s what I’ve seen of the Outlaws on TV, and those are the kind of coaches that players want to play for. That way, on Saturday and Sunday, they give you a game plan and you can just go out there and perform.”
During the 1996 NFL Europe season, Murphy caught 21 passes for 298 yards and five TDs, and was named the Most Valuable Player in Scotland’s World Bowl win over Frankfurt, when he grabbed eight balls for 138 yards and three touchdowns. One season later, in 1997, Murphy was the league’s leading WR with 47 catches for 559 yards and two TDs.
Murphy, a University of Idaho product who also played with the B.C. Lions of the CFL for three seasons (1993-95), could see extensive action on Sunday for Las Vegas. This weekend, the Outlaws travel to Chicago’s Soldier Field to face the winless Enforcers (0-4), a team that has battled hard but suffered tough losses against Orlando (32-29) and Los Angeles (39-32 in 2OT). Sunday’s game will be televised live nationally on TNN at 1:00 p.m. PT and represents the second of three consecutive road games for Las Vegas, which heads to Orlando on March 10 for a nationally-televised NBC game between the current division leaders.
OTHER FORMER CLAYMORES: With today’s addition of Murphy and last week’s acquisition of QB Mark Grieb, the Outlaws now have 12 former Claymores on the roster. They are, in alphabetical order: QB Jim Ballard, CB Kory Blackwell, TE Rickey Brady, QB Ryan Clement, QB Mark Grieb, DE Michael Mason, K/P Paul McCallum, WR Yo Murphy, DE Ty Parten, CB Kevin Scott, RB Ben Snell and CB Hurley Tarver. Also, running backs coach Ron Dickerson, Jr. and tight ends coach Mike Rockwood played for Criner in Scotland.
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE: The Outlaws’ players are off both today and Tuesday, and will resume training at the Sam Boyd Stadium practice fields Wednesday and Thursday from 12:00 noon to 1:45 p.m. On Friday, the Outlaws will again kick off practice at noon, but are expected to go with a slightly shorter workout before boarding America West Airlines flight 723 on Saturday morning at 10:46 a.m. The team arrives in Chicago that evening, and heads directly to Orlando via United Airlines flight 1036 at 9:00 p.m. Sunday night to begin preparations for the March 10 game vs. the Rage.
