‘I Believe He Can Play in the NFL’: Thor Griffith Prepares for Pro Football Career

Thor C. Griffith ’24 has always been an athlete. As a kid, he was a stellar ice hockey player and a great heavyweight wrestler.

When Harvard Football’s legendary Head Coach, Tim Murphy, saw videos of Griffith playing hockey, he knew he needed him on his football team.

“The drills were elite to the point I said to Thor, ‘That can’t be you,’” Coach Murphy explained. “To which he said, ‘Coach, that is me!! I was a top 100 hockey player in the U.S. when I was 12 years old.’”

Griffith declared for the 2025 NFL Draft this past January, hoping, alongside former Crimson teammates Tyler Neville and Matthew Hudson, to join the few Harvard Football alumni in the National Football League.

The 320-pound, six-foot-two defensive tackle looks like a strong prospect in the upcoming draft, having proved that he can compete at a high collegiate level in both the Ivy League and ACC.

Griffith kick-started his football career in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he excelled in the Portsmouth Clippers jersey. By his junior year of high school, Griffith was sending out highlight reels and workout videos to a variety of college coaches in an attempt to get recruited.

Portsmouth, a small town in New England, is not known for having a particularly strong football program or for sending athletes to play at the competitive Division 1 level.

Thankfully for Harvard’s football team, Coach Murphy was one of the few collegiate coaches to respond to Griffith’s messages.

“Thor was an interesting kid in that people now assume he was a highly recruited major college athlete out of high school. That wasn’t the case,” said Coach Murphy. “He came to our Summer Camp after his junior year in high school as a defensive lineman from New Hampshire. After camp was over, we sat down and talked about the top student-athletes who had come to campus and which kids had the three things we believe in to have success at Harvard and in the Ivy League.”

During the recruiting process, Coach Murphy and his Harvard coaching staff looked for players who were very strong students, with great personal character, all while having true Division 1 athletic potential.

At the beginning of Griffith’s recruiting period, Coach Murphy said that his coaching staff didn’t believe Thor was a good enough player, which caused them to “move on to other recruits for his position.”

In addition to his success on the ice, Griffith’s heavyweight wrestling videos, in which he tosses around a 280-pound opponent “like a rag doll,” also helped convey his natural strength and competitiveness.

Griffith lines up for a snap against St. Thomas. By Courtesy Harvard Athletics

Murphy explained that these clips, showcasing Griffith’s inherent athleticism, were the deciding factor in offering him a position on the Harvard team.

“He was clearly an elite athlete, albeit a huge one who did not have much football coaching or history,” Murphy said. “I told our staff, ‘We are taking this kid based on his potential,’ and the rest is history, as he is one of the top Defensive Linemen in Harvard Football history.”

“That’s kind of where it all started,” said Griffith while reflecting on his official commitment to the Crimson program.

Despite the initial excitement of committing to Harvard, Griffith’s first fall at Harvard in 2020 was unconventional due to COVID-19 restrictions. The Ivy League, notoriously strict in imposing regulations to stop the spread of the virus, completely cancelled the 2020 football season.

Although he lost a year of competition in the Crimson jersey, Griffith had an extremely momentous career at Harvard. He played in every single game for his remaining three seasons, notching an impressive 132 tackles. Among his many achievements, Griffith also claimed the title of All-Ivy League First Team, AFCA All-America Second Team, and FCS Football Central All-America Second Team.

Off the field, Griffith lived in Eliot House and pursued a concentration in economics with a secondary in Celtic Languages and Literature.

He credits his niche passion for Celtic culture to Harvard’s renowned Professor Gregory Nagy.

“My junior year, a couple of guys on the team and I took one of Professor Nagy’s classes in Celtic Languages and Literature,” Griffith said. “I thought it was super interesting. During my last semester, I only had to take two more classes to get the secondary. I was like, ‘Why not?’”

Although Harvard and the other Ancient Eight schools are not known for churning out NFL players, Griffith does not regret the time he spent in Cambridge. He also cites the rigorous Ivy League education for helping him mentally prepare to compete at a higher level and train for the NFL Draft.

“I really enjoyed my time at Harvard,” Griffith explained. “I feel like I wouldn’t have had such a great experience anywhere else, especially with all the people I’ve met, all my teammates, and all the friends I’ve made.”

When Griffith ran out of eligibility at Harvard, he decided to take his 5th year to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. As he entered the portal, he received significant attention from serious football programs. Eventually, he selected the University of Louisville.

Griffith attributes his decision largely to the coaching program at Louisville, particularly crediting the defensive line coach Mark Hagen.

“I went on an official visit there, and just being there for the weekend, seeing the city, seeing the fans, seeing the facilities, I just fell in love with the area and the program and bought into what Coach Hagen was saying,” he said.

Griffith committed to the Cardinals that weekend, officially bringing his athletic skill to the Power Four. Despite making the jump from the Football Championship Subdivision, which the Ivy League competes in, to the more intense Football Bowl Subdivision, Griffith felt prepared.

“I did notice guys being a little more hesitant, thinking like hey, this guy is from the Ivy League,” Griffith said. “Is he really that good at football? Can he really compete at this level?”

Although fans and opponents initially doubted his ability to perform at a higher level, Griffith played a crucial role in all 13 of Louisville’s games this past fall. He completed 14 solo tackles and 21 total tackles in addition to three sacks for an overall loss of 16 yards.

Immediately after the conclusion of his season with the Cardinals, Griffith set his sights on the NFL Draft. He prepared for the combine and his Pro Day, when the professional teams send scouts to the major football programs to watch all of their draft candidates compete.

Griffith trained in Florida at Bommarito Performance Systems, a high-intensity training facility run by Pete Bommarito. Bommarito specializes in preparing collegiate football players for the NFL Combine, so Griffith worked out there from January until his Louisville Pro Day in March.

During these showcases, athletes are not just asked to play football, but are also observed sprinting, benching, doing the five-ten-five test, among other activities.

“When I was training for my Pro Day, it was like I wasn’t training for football anymore,” Griffith explained. “It’s more about gearing your training towards technique and muscle endurance. It was nothing that I did or that any of the other guys I was training with had done before.”

Thanks to the months spent in grueling training, Griffith excelled in his Pro Day. He ran a 4.9-second 40-yard dash and showed off his strength by completing 42 bench press reps at 225 pounds.

The time spent in Florida, though, was “mentally and physically taxing, since you’re trying to push yourself to your maximum limit during training every day,” said Griffith.

He attributes Harvard to helping him get through the challenging past few months.

“Not only did I have to prepare for games week in and week out, but also spend so many hours practicing, watching film, lifting, while at the same time balancing Harvard academics,” explained Griffith. “I learned how to balance that and handle super stressful situations.”

“I felt like Harvard really did prepare me to handle this process in a mental capacity, as I am used to the continuous work, work, work, work, every day mentality,” he added.

Now, after years of training, Griffith will wait for his phone to ring come draft night.

“It's exciting but stressful at the same time,” Griffith said. “It's one of the first times in my life where football is no longer a guarantee.”

Harvard, Louisville, and Portsmouth fans alike will keep a close eye on the later rounds of the draft in hopes that Griffith will, in fact, get that phone call and secure a contract from a professional team.

Throughout his career, Griffith has risen to the top of each team that he has been on. He has proved that he is a gritty and determined athlete. He is ready, both physically and mentally, to take his talents to the NFL.

“I believe he will get an NFL contract, and I believe he can play in the NFL,” Coach Murphy shared. “Thor’s a great kid, and I believe he will make it.”

– Staff Writer Isabel C. Smail can be reached at isabel.smail@thecrimson.com