Merkle lands starting job, excels at Kenyon
Freshman Thomas Merkle was one of five quarterbacks on the roster when the Kenyon College football team opened preseason camp in August.
“We moved three of them to other positions where we felt they could help us more immediately,” head coach Chris Monfiletto said. “The junior we picked to start was injured in our scrimmage and Thomas was thrust into the starting role at that point.”
To say that the 5-foot-10, 180-pound York Suburban grad took to the job would be an understatement. He completed 24-of-40 passes for 315 yards, and a touchdown in a 21-17 non-league season-opening victory over Sewanee. He guided the Lords to the winning touchdown that came with six seconds remaining in regulation. Merkle followed that up by completing 24-of-39 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-16 North Coast Athletic Conference victory over Oberlin, both games played in front of the home folks on McBride Field in Gambier, Ohio.
Merkle didn’t expect to be “the guy” so early in his career but he wasn’t “surprised” at how well he started.
“I’m very confident in my ability as a player and as a leader,” he said. “I didn’t expect this so early but I was prepared very well by the coach staff and my teammates to be ready.”
Since that big start, Merkle and the Lords have had some tough sledding. They are now 3-4 overall and 2-4 in NCAC play after a 24-3 loss to No. 21-ranked Wabash last Saturday, the team’s first home loss in four games.
However, in one of those setbacks, a 45-38 NCAC loss to DePauw, Merkle showed his potential to be a future star. He hit 44-of-66 passes for 438 yards and four touchdowns. His completions and yards are Kenyon single-season records and his attempts were just two short of the top mark. On the season, he has completed 185-of-307 passes for 2,074 yards and 12 touchdowns. The single-season yardage total ranks fifth in the record book with three games remaining.
Monfiletto talks about the recruitment process to get Merkle to come to the Ohio college.
“We were aware of Thomas from his junior year at York Suburban and he was able to make a visit to our campus after his senior season,” the coach said. “We went out to York to visit with him at his school and he made a few subsequent trips back to Gambier. We’re grateful that he chose Kenyon and we’re very excited about his future.”
Merkle was being contacted by a number of Division III colleges, especially from the Centennial Conference and some others in Ohio.
“Kenyon provided me with the best opportunity to get a top-tier education and continue my football career,” he said.
It proved to be a good match in football right from the start.
“The guys make it easy for me,” Merkle said. “This group of guys is special and they took me under their wing from day one. Every single teammate has my back and I have theirs. They do not treat me differently just because I’m a freshman and they expect the same production out of me as if I were an upperclassman.”
Monfiletto talks about his expectations for Merkle.
“My hopes are that Thomas continues to improve and develop as a starting quarterback,” the coach said. “If he continues to put the time in learning the game plans and feeling more comfortable with the offense, he will have a tremendous season. Maintaining his current approach to make a daily commitment to improve is the only thing I’m looking for.”
Merkle agrees with that assessment.
“We have a very structured and thought-out game plan going into each game,” he said. “The coaching staff prepares me well and we are all confident going into Saturday. I just need to keep improving on knowing opponents’ defenses in and out and what we are trying to do against opponents’ schemes.”
Merkle and the Lords have a bye this weekend and then face road games at the College of Wooster (2-4) Saturday, Oct. 29 and Wittenberg (5-1) on Nov. 5 before closing out the season at home against Denison, currently 6-0 overall and leading the NCAC with a 5-0 mark.