Chris Rumph is looking for the next junkyard dog at Clemson.
With T.J. Parker and Cade Denhoff both off to the NFL, Rumph is not only having to replace two veterans in his defensive ends room, but also the leadership those guys provided.
The Tigers do get back Will Heldt and Jahiem Lawson, as well as Darien Mayo, who now enters his third season with the team, but the staff also went out and added a couple of transfers to boost the depth of the group. London Merritt was signed after spending a productive season at Colorado, and CJ Wesley was also brought in after spending four years at Howard.
While Rumph loves the talent he has to work with, as Clemson gets set to start fall camp next week, the veteran assistant is hoping one of those players will become the type of vocal leader the room needs.
“We have a lot of talented players, but we don’t have old junkyard dogs. Guys that will get out there and just grab somebody by the facemask and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to do it this way,'” Rumph said. “Our guys do it politically correct. Sometimes you need somebody to step in line and just challenge somebody and maybe dust up somebody.”
One of Heldt or Lawson would be the obvious choice, but the possibility of Merritt stepping into that role at some point shouldn’t be discounted. Due to his season at Colorado, playing under head coach Deion Sanders, Merritt has already inherited a new nickname.
Merritt appeared in all 12 games for the Buffaloes last season, including one start, earning PFF All-Freshman honors. He was also named Honorable Mention for Big 12 Freshman of the Year.
The 6-foot-3, 255-pound defensive end finished with 25 total tackles, 14 unassisted tackles, eight tackles for loss, six quarterback hurries, and one sack. His eight tackles for loss were the second most by a freshman in the Big 12 and fourth in the NCAA for true freshmen.
“Prime is prime,” Rumph said. “Prime has been really good. He has jumped in, and he is just out there doing his thing. Playing hard. I was just surprised about how rugged he plays. He throws his body around. He is not a finesse guy. He is a rugged guy. I like him. I like the way he’s come in. He is a mature kid. Been some place else, been outside of Clemson, so he knows how the world operates.”
Whether or not Merritt grows into that kind of leadership role during his debut season at Clemson is yet to be determined, but Rumph has already seen enough to know the transfer certainly possesses that trait.
“I think he is still trying to learn the defense, just trying to learn his way around and get going, but I think he is a guy that could lay hands on somebody one day.”
