Merrill wants a state championship
Growing up, Robert Merrill and his dad would watch tape of the great running backs. They’d look at modern day stars like Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders.
But it wasn’t until his dad played a tape of an old school player that Merrill felt like he had finally seen a running back that he’d like to emulate.
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That player was Tony Dorsett.
“My dad showed him to me and I was like ‘Whoa’,” Merrill said. “That’s kind of how I see myself as playing. I’m fast to the hole and I can make some moves.”
Merrill has made more than “some” moves this season. In fact, he’s made a quite a few, rushing for 2,740 yards and 37 touchdowns as a high school senior.
Merrill hopes to lead his San Antonio Taft team to the Class 5A big-school state title this weekend against Mesquite.
Merrill hasn’t received much publicity until his team’s late-season playoff run. In part, that’s because Taft is far from a traditional powerhouse and in part it’s because he was hurt much of his junior year, only playing in three games as a junior but rushing for 517 yards and seven touchdowns.
“I had a neck injury last year. It was sort of like whiplash. I was running and a guy popped me and my helmet flew off and then some other guys kind of hit me in the pile.”
But the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Merrill has bounced back this season.
“He’s a big, big reason why we are where we are right now,” Taft coach Lee Bridges said of his star running back. “I’ve coached a lot of good backs in my days, but Robert’s just special.”
Some recruiters see the same sort of “special” in Merrill as Bridges does.
Merrill says he has scheduled an official visit to either Baylor or Texas Tech for Jan. 11. He’s also talking with Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas, Arizona and Houston among others.
But Merrill has a state title on his mind, not college football recruiting.
“If we win this weekend, then we’re state champs. If we win, we can say for the rest of our lives that we were state champs.”