Dawson Merritt

Dawson Merritt knows a thing or two about playing at the highest levels of football. That's because he is the son of NFL assistant coach Dave Merritt, who has three Super Bowl rings with the Kansas City Chiefs. “My dad kind of thought I was just kind of playing around with football because my freshman year, I wasn't very good,” Merritt said. “My sophomore year, I was a starter on varsity. That's when I'd say I got a lot better, but I still wasn't very good. And then as a junior, I obviously made a huge jump. When I made that jump, my dad really started to help me out. And just even the little things he would say, like how to take on a block, what to do when the tackle does this, what to do when a receiver does this. It's just all the little things that he knows has helped me.” During that breakthrough junior season at Blue Valley High School, Merritt finished with 83 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and seven sacks.