Merritt Guides Owls' Scouting Efforts
5/24/2024 11:45:00 AM | Football
Executive Director of Scouting
Bobby Merritt joined the Rice Football staff before the start of spring drills as the Owls' Executive Director of Scouting, bringing over 20 years of experience at the college and professional level to South Main.
Merritt serves in a general manager role, evaluating all aspects of the construction of both the Owls' current and future rosters. In addition to guiding Rice's evaluation of high school prospects and their recruitment, Merritt will enhance the Owls' efforts in the transfer portal space to identify candidates to address the team's needs. He will also direct the Owls' weekly evaluations of the Owls' performance as well as those of their upcoming opponents during the season.
"Bobby is an outstanding addition to our staff and brings exactly the kind of skillset needed for us to continue to grow this program," said Dunlevie Family Head Football Coach Mike Bloomgren. "His experiences at both the collegiate and professional levels allow him to be comfortable in identifying both young talents we can develop and those players with experience who are perfect fits to join us and contribute immediately."
Merritt comes to Rice after spending the last two seasons as the Director of Scouting at Texas, where he coordinated the evaluation of prospects at both the high school and collegiate level, in addition to scouting of opponents and reviews of the Longhorns each week.
He also served as the Director of Player Personnel for Houston in 2017 and as the Director of Recruiting at Tennessee from 2015-16.
He spent 15 years as a scout in the NFL with the Detroit Lions (2003-07) and Houston Texans (2007-15) and six years in the CFL with Ottawa (2017-18) and Edmonton (2018-22) where he served as the Assistant GM and Director of Scouting.
Merritt serves in a general manager role, evaluating all aspects of the construction of both the Owls' current and future rosters. In addition to guiding Rice's evaluation of high school prospects and their recruitment, Merritt will enhance the Owls' efforts in the transfer portal space to identify candidates to address the team's needs. He will also direct the Owls' weekly evaluations of the Owls' performance as well as those of their upcoming opponents during the season.
"Bobby is an outstanding addition to our staff and brings exactly the kind of skillset needed for us to continue to grow this program," said Dunlevie Family Head Football Coach Mike Bloomgren. "His experiences at both the collegiate and professional levels allow him to be comfortable in identifying both young talents we can develop and those players with experience who are perfect fits to join us and contribute immediately."
Merritt comes to Rice after spending the last two seasons as the Director of Scouting at Texas, where he coordinated the evaluation of prospects at both the high school and collegiate level, in addition to scouting of opponents and reviews of the Longhorns each week.
He also served as the Director of Player Personnel for Houston in 2017 and as the Director of Recruiting at Tennessee from 2015-16.
He spent 15 years as a scout in the NFL with the Detroit Lions (2003-07) and Houston Texans (2007-15) and six years in the CFL with Ottawa (2017-18) and Edmonton (2018-22) where he served as the Assistant GM and Director of Scouting.
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