Kyle Goon: For Shawne Merriman’s QB son and Saint Frances football, it’s about to be Lights On

In his heyday, Shawne Merriman chased quarterbacks with the brute efficiency of a lion pouncing on a wounded gazelle. For the Terps and then the San Diego Chargers, Merriman earned the moniker “Lights Out” because (in a different era of football) he literally knocked players out.

His 16-year-old son has no memories of Shawne’s NFL career, which ended in 2013. When Justin Merriman watches the tape, he marvels like anyone else. But he also wants to learn: How would he escape a pass rusher as fearsome as his own dad?

“I ask myself how can I somehow presnap tell the [offensive] line, ‘Hey, slide this way, slide that way,’ — which the quarterbacks, obviously in the highlights, they didn’t do,” Justin Merriman said. “Also, sometimes I watch and I’m just like, ‘Damn. He was really, really good.’”

Justin hopes football observers are watching his tape with a similar awe soon — except, instead of chasing quarterbacks, he’s the one under center.

It feels like cosmic irony that one of the most feared pass rushers from the University of Maryland and the 2006 NFL sacks leader would raise a son who is a promising young quarterback. Not only is the 6-foot-3 high school sophomore starting to generate serious recruiting interest, he’s attempting to carve a legacy in Baltimore by leading the nationally ranked Saint Frances Panthers, who start the season Friday night with a road game against Florida powerhouse DeLand.

Among the many multistar prospects at Saint Frances — the school ranked No. 3 overall by MaxPreps had two dozen seniors accept football scholarships last year — it is unusual for a 16-year-old to come in from New Jersey and quickly establish himself as the top quarterback.

This is not a nepotism-driven narrative, the Panthers said — if Merriman plays his cards right, he may eventually be a five-star QB recruit.

“The way he’s able to process the information is kind of second to none, especially at his age,” quarterbacks coach and former Syracuse and Hampton QB Dave Legree said. “And then, you know, just obviously he has the physical tools. You see the height, you see the stature, you see the strong arm — it’s all that and the intangibles that makes him a difference maker.”

Merriman came to Saint Frances this past spring with juice. He was selected to play in the FBU Freshman All-American Bowl with about 80 of his elite peers across the country. He completed 12 of 15 passes, gaining generous evaluations in the process. Teammates have seen him throw at least 60 yards downfield — “that arm is vicious” receiver Samir Edwards said.

According to 247 Sports, at least 10 Division I schools have offered him a scholarship, including Maryland and coach Mike Locksley — the same man who recruited his father out of Douglass High in Upper Marlboro nearly 25 years ago.

But, amid other great prospects on his own team, taking practice reps at Saint Frances is humbling, Merriman said.

He’ll take a snap and be one step off the line when Texas Tech-committed edge Anthony Sweeney is already in his face in the pocket. Or he’ll throw a short attempt across the middle of the field and be intercepted by Virginia Tech-bound safety Elijah Butler, whom he thought was playing deep coverage a split-second before.

This is why Merriman came to Saint Frances — to be pushed.

“I think this place, you have to stick it out. You could be a four-star, five-star, three-star, zero-star and have the same people down your neck every single day saying you’re not that great yet,” Merriman said. “It’s a place of competition. It’s a place of growth.”

His teammates see other things that could make Merriman special, too. Edwards, a four-star receiving prospect in the 2028 class, is housemates with Merriman. After practice, the quarterback goes home and goes over tape with his receivers. If they need to practice timing, they step outside and run routes on the street.

“If I have a bad day with him, like, we can easily get back in the house with it,” Edwards said. “We talk about where our mistakes were and just fix it the next day.”

It’s natural for a son to want to be seen as his own man apart from a famous father — and that drives Merriman, too. Justin talks about his father sparingly in most conversations around his teammates and coaches, preferring to be treated as any other player.

Legree learned who Justin’s father was in a phone call with head coach Messay Hailemariam. “I didn’t, like, put two and two together. Coach Messay called me and said, ‘That’s Shawne Merriman’s son.’ And I was like, ‘Holy …’.”

His teammates bring up his famous dad more than Merriman does. In one practice, his receivers celebrated touchdowns by doing Shawne’s post-sack dance.

But in weeks like this one, as he preps for the first game of the season, Justin consults his father for advice. How would you prepare for a big road game? When in the day did you nap? When did you go over the game script? How did you get your head right?

Justin calls his father “a great resource.” Although Shawne was not immediately available for comment for this story, he has shown his pride by sharing clips of his son on social media. He’ll be inducted into the Terps’ Hall of Fame this fall, and as Justin is recruited by Maryland, Shawne has appreciated a moment to think about how his football legacy could be linked to his son’s future.

“If I really do go there, you know, I know I’ll be in good hands with Coach Locks and all the coaching staff there — my dad really trusts them, of course,” Merriman said. “That’s definitely a school that I’m obviously looking at highly right now. It’s really a full-circle moment — me and my family always think about it.”

There are times, Justin said, when his dad is in playful denial that his son is a quarterback. He foresees him gaining weight and being looked at for another position with more blue-collar heft.

“Sometimes he says, ‘Put your hand in the dirt,’” Merriman said. “I keep putting on muscle mass and I keep getting bigger and I keep getting taller. So he says, ‘You put on another 20 pounds, and you’re going to end up as a D-end or a tight end. I’m like, ‘Oh, no, no — I’m not.’”

If they had played football at the same time, they would have been at serious odds. But now, long after his own football career has ended, Shawne has found a way to brush aside his old quarterback-hunting instincts and feel fatherly pride.

If Justin can fulfill the sky-high potential others see in him, he might challenge his dad’s football legacy. He believes Saint Frances is helping motivate him to reach higher.

He doesn’t need to feel what it’s like to see his dad across the line of scrimmage to challenge himself. Saint Frances’ own D pushes him hard enough in practice every day.

“You’re not going to go up against a defense like that the whole entire season,” Merriman said. “I really go versus the best defense every single day in practice, and I feel like that’s what’s going to make me great.”