Tobias Merriweather Is Ready To Exceed Expectations

Every season begins with its own set of expectations, and rising sophomore Tobias Merriweather certainly has his for the upcoming campaign. Every team, every position group, every player and every coach carry their own set of expectations, fair or unfair, into every new season. It's hard to think of how one catch has altered expectations of a player the way Merriweather’s one singular catch has changed the expectations on him heading into his sophomore season.

That lone reception came at the midpoint of Merriweather’s freshman season on the first play of the fourth quarter last October against Stanford. Most Irish fans likely know it by heart. Irish quarterback Drew Pyne faked a handoff to Logan Diggs and set up in a pristine pocket before cocking his arm and connecting with a leaping Merriweather, who hauled in the pass in front of a helpless Cardinal defensive back.

The breathtaking 41-yard play gave the Irish an all too brief 14-13 lead, their only lead of the night in what was ultimately a 16-14 loss. More importantly, it set the standard for what’s to come for Merriweather.

"I think it just helped my confidence,” Merriweather said of that spectacular play this spring. "At that point I was like, ‘I want to be on the field. I like making plays.’ That (touchdown) was like, 'Okay, I didn’t work for no reason'.”

That game, Notre Dame’s sixth of the season, was just the third of seven games in which Merriweather saw action last fall. It whet the appetite of everyone expecting to see more from the talented four-star recruit who was a consensus top-25 receiver by all the recruiting services.

Merriweather played the next three weeks, but never got his hands on another ball. He suffered a concussion against Clemson on Nov. 5 and didn’t see the field again until Notre Dame’s Gator Bowl win over South Carolina.

"For any athlete or any person who wants to play as a competitor, being out is frustrating,” Merriweather remarked of the concussion. "Especially when you know you’re about to get the call, you’re going to be playing a lot more than you have been. It’s what you’ve been working for all season. Then it gets thrown away at the last moment. It’s frustrating. That’s what God had in store for me. Whatever happened, happened and you just got to roll with it.”

The West Camas, Wash. native turned his fall disappointment into fuel this spring. His focus wasn’t just about making field-stretching highlight plays, but instead about consistency with everything he did in practice. His physical traits are sharp, but Merriweather’s focus may have been even sharper this spring.

“What I look at and I know what separates guys at the next level is the mentality,” Irish wide receiver coach Chansi Stuckey said of Merriweather. “He has matured so much in a year and you can just tell the focus is different. He’s confident making plays down the field. He understands his body better. He understands that given the freedom he has savviness in his routes. He’s such a creative route-runner and he has some speed.”

Merriweather’s Blue-Gold spring game production was much more modest than the 11 receptions hauled in by Jaden Greathouse or the four catches for 71 yards and a touchdown by Jayden Thomas. But he was a consistent producer throughout the spring and his efforts didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.

"He's just a hard worker,” Thomas said of Merriweather. "That's what he does, and he does everything full speed. You know, it rarely seems like he gets tired. He'll run three posts in a row and does it again. Then he's also making the catches, and as somebody as young as he is, he's also helping us compete against each other, pushing us, some of the older guys and even for the young guys to just keep our foot on the pedal.”

At 6-4 and 205 pounds, Merriweather’s long limbs and lean frame are strikingly similar to a long ago Notre Dame commit who starred in college at Marshall before going on to a Hall of Fame NFL career. But it’s not just Merriweather’s measurables that remind Stuckey of a current Pro Football Hall of Famer.

"He’s a guy that, I don't do comparisons, but Randy Moss,” Stuckey noted. "The ball was in the air it’s like he got faster. Tobias, the guys’ right next to him I feel like he hits another gear and just runs away from guys and that’s a very unique skill set to have. You can never out-throw him and he makes plays down the field.

"There are guys that are fast but can’t make plays down the field, but he can sink his hips, too," continued Stuckey. "That’s the beauty of being 6-3/6-4. I can run deep but I can also sink my hips and run a stop or a stab route, or a slant, or an option route. He can run the full route tree, and I think he believes that, and I think he knows the work it takes to be great right now. There’s still a long way to go.”

Summer workouts and building more chemistry with new quarterback Sam Hartman now stand between Merriweather and training camp in August. Hartman’s arrival gives Notre Dame a quarterback with accuracy and the ability to stretch the field deep. And be the catalyst for an Irish offense to surpass previously unreached expectations.