Second Time's a Charm: Merritt to transfer to A&M

In a move that strengthens Texas A&M's two-deep and has serious implications for the 2017 recruiting class, Merritt announced Friday morning that he would be transferring from Oregon to A&M in order to be closer to home. Barring an appeal to the NCAA to play immediately, Merritt will sit out the 2016 season and be eligible to play as a redshirt sophomore in 2017.

At 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, Merritt is one inch shorter and one pound lighter than the A&M wideout he most resembles, former standout Ryan Swope. A former running back in high school, Merritt has been clocked in the mid-4.4 second 40-yard dash range and has excellent lower body strength, just like Swope did. He's got broad shoulders and looks like a back (again, like Swope did) and has tremendous straight line speed, as you can see in his highlights.

Swope ended up being a fantastic wideout, and Merritt still has work to do, but there's no question about his athleticism. He is now the second Aggie to win the SPARQ national championship at The Opening (Speedy Noil won it too), where he ran a 4.43 40, a 4.03 shuttle and a 46-inch vertical jump.

Merritt only caught 5 passes for 61 yards last year at Oregon, but the Ducks coaching staff had said before he announced his intention to transfer that his role would be significantly expanded in 2016. Now, the Aggies have a player who can step into the two-deep in 2017 to replace Ricky Seals-Jones in the slot and work with Christian Kirk and Frank Iheanacho. With his speed, the Aggies can utilize him by throwing him quick passes at the line of scrimmage or letting him run seam routes down the middle, where he'll be too fast for linebackers or safeties to cover. He will make a dynamic counter to Kirk, who could be the nation's top receiver in a year. With his background as a running back, Merritt could also be used on jet sweeps and even in the wildcat. He's a highly versatile, athletic pickup.

With Camron Buckley and Merritt, the Aggies have two of the four slots they wanted to use on wideouts filled in the 2017 class. They have a number of remaining targets, all of which are impressive, in this class: Hezekiah Jones of Stafford, CeeDee Lamb of Richmond Foster, Omar Manning of Lancaster and Michael Young, also of Destrehan. LSU committ Jhamon Ausbon also remains on their radar. Now, however, the Aggies don't have room for three more receivers, and they can be selective on who they take. In this case, they're probably wanting to pick up two quickly and be done with it, so it would not be a big surprise if Jones and Lamb are told they need to make a quick decision and do so. At this point, both would probably lean A&M's way.