Big Week for Former Terp Merriman
12/22/2005 7:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 22, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Former University of Maryland linebacker Shawne Merriman has had an outstanding season in his first year as an National Football League player. After leaving the Terrapins a year early to be selected in the first round by the San Diego Chargers, Merriman had arguably as good of a week as a player can have this week.
First, he was a huge part of the Chargers knocking the Indianapolis Colts from the ranks of the unbeaten last weekend. For his efforts, he was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Facing its greatest challenge of the season, San Diego entered the RCA Dome to play the 13-0 Colts and came out a 26-17 winner. The 21-year-old Merriman, was a disruptive force in the first half as he was involved in two sacks and three other tackles for loss. In the second quarter with the Chargers clinging to a 10-0 lead, the 6-foot-4, 272-pounder tackled Peyton Manning on a fourth-and-goal play from the Chargers' 1-yard line for a 6-yard loss and on the ensuing possession, San Diego drove 91 yards in 18 plays for a field goal and a 13-0 edge at the half. A Merriman sack on third-down on the Colts' first series of the third quarter enabled the Chargers to kick a field goal to extend their lead to 16-0. The win moved San Diego's to 9-5, keeping their playoff hopes alive.
As if it weren't enough, Merriman -- the NFL's youngest player -- was named later in the week to the Pro Bowl, a remarkable feat considering he did not start until the season's seventh game. But he has nine sacks, the most by a linebacker this season and most of any NFL rookie.
Merriman became just the second Chargers rookie to make the Pro Bowl, following John Jefferson in 1979. The last rookie to make the Pro Bowl was Arizona's Anquan Boldin following the 2003 season. Merriman is the first rookie linebacker to make the team since Pittsburgh's Kendrell Bell following the 2001 season.
"I came down the long road, even before I got here," Merriman said. "Just to be where I am today is already a positive in my life. But to have something like this happen to me as well, I'm speechless."
A native of Upper Marlboro, Md., Merriman was a first team All-ACC selection and a second team All-American (The Sporting News) for the Terrapins a year ago.
