London Merritt is really starting to come into his own for the Clemson defense.

The transfer edge rusher picked up his first career sack as a Tiger when he brought down Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele early in the second quarter. Dabo Swinney believes Merritt was a big part of Clemson’s defense holding Sagapolutele to a career-low 119 passing yards.

“London Merritt, I thought, by far, played his best game,” Swinney said. “He really played a heck of a ballgame for us. Super proud of him and how he played.”

Merritt finished with five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, along with the sack, but Swinney felt his presence was felt beyond what can be seen on the stat sheet.

“Relentless effort. Disruptive,” Swinney added. “We sacked the quarterback a couple of times, but we really affected him. It was probably our best game as far as really affecting the quarterback from a rush standpoint, and London was a big part of that. Made a big extra-effort play where we missed a couple of tackles and he got him downfield.”

Merritt spent his first season at Colorado, appearing in all 12 games and 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 his debut season 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.

Through four games at Clemson, the transfer has nine tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, three pass breakups and two quarterback hurries.

Despite the early success, Merritt is really just starting to scratch the surface of what he can be. His head coach fully expects he’ll be a big part of the defense, and sooner rather than later.

“He is just getting better and better,” Swinney said. “That was his best game for sure.”

Photo courtesy of Clemson Athletics Communications