2022 Pennsylvania LB Matt Merritt Anxious to Visit ‘Dream School’ West Virginia

Central Valley linebacker Matt Merritt has all the qualities a coach could want in a football player.

Merritt has the size (6-foot-3, 220 pounds), production (last year: 90 tackles, three sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception), tremendous character and work ethic and is a winner (two-time WPIAL Champion).

At this stage in his recruitment, Merritt holds offers from Robert Morris, Navy, Air Force, Lehigh and Army. The question now is will Merritt start receiving interest from Power Five programs?

He’ll definitely have the opportunity as next month he will be participating in prospects camps starting on June 1 in West Virginia. West Virginia Sports Now spoke with Merritt on Monday morning and he told us this visit to Morgantown will be special considering he has deep family ties to West Virginia.

“West Virginia is my dream school,” Merritt told WVSN. “I have a lot of family ties down there. My sister is currently going there now, I have had a lot of other family members that have gone there and my parents spent a lot of time around the area growing up. They want me to come down and check me out, see how well I move at a prospect camp. They’ve told me that they like my film but really want to see my move. Hopefully I can impress them enough to earn that scholarship while I’m down there.”

🚨 Jr Year 🚨
90 tackles, 40 Solo, 3 sacks, 2 FR, 1INT, 1 TD
Wpial and PIAA champs @CoachLyonsCVfb @Coach__Reda https://t.co/2L5cgFzanb pic.twitter.com/XrSknbT6tH

— Matt Merritt (@matt_merritt17) December 2, 2020

This will obviously be a huge opportunity for Merritt as he’ll the Mountaineer staff will personally get to meet him and evaluate his skill set to see if he’s a potential match for their defense, so in essence it’s a job interview, but he said he’s not intimidated by that prospect.

“No. One of my character traits is that I never get nervous about anything. I believe that I’m a person that handles pressure well,” he said. “I’m just anxious to get down there and show the West Virginia coaches what I have and how well I move. From last year to this year, I’ve been working so hard doing speed training, lifting, doing some extra work with some guys. Hopefully I can set the tone down there and show them who I am and how I can play ball.”

This won’t be the only opportunity for Merritt to workout in front of coaches, as he has schedule a busy month of June.

“I have a bunch of stuff planned,” he said. “June 2, I have an Akron visit. June 5, I’m going to Navy for a visit. June 6, I’ll be working out at Pitt at a prospect camp. June 13, I’ll be out at Penn State. June 14, I’ll be at Youngstown State for their mega camp. June 18-20 I’ll be out at Air Force for a visit and June 23 I’ll be at Toledo.”