Colorado Transfer London Merritt Expects Clemson Defense to 'Surprise' in 2026

One of the newest pieces to Clemson's defense, the edge rusher warns any team going into a game doubting how good they can be.

Clemson defensive end London Merritt (14) will look to make a splash in his first season with the Tigers in 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Clemson edge rusher London Merritt might have only been on campus for several months, but he sees how good this Tiger defense could be next season. 

Defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s second season with the system saw the program bring in a double-digit amount of transfers to that side of the ball. Merritt comes from Colorado with hopes to contribute early off of the edge. 

But with everybody working towards bringing back the Clemson defense of old, Merritt didn’t bring up a single name about standing up, instead, he just said “everybody” is breaking out. 

“I can’t even tell you, everybody’s doing their thing,” he said on Wednesday evening. “We got a really good defense, and I’m really excited about it.”

That’s not how it started out for the Atlanta native, though. 

Merritt said he got started on the wrong foot when he joined the program in January, being a step behind the rest of the defensive ends within the room. Although he got more traction as the spring went on, even finishing with 2.5 sacks in Clemson’s spring game in March, he gives credit to position coach Chris Rumph and strength and conditioning coach Dennis Love for putting him back on track. 

“I’m just very appreciative for Coach Rumph taking me in and things like that,” he said. “I started out a little rough, but I picked it up and then, now, I had the summer workouts. [I] worked really hard with the staff, thanks to D-Love.”

The edge rusher said that Love, in his first season in his new position, had to work overtime to help Merritt get where he needed to be entering fall camp, which began last week. 

“He worked, shoot, I couldn’t tell you how hard he worked, you know, it was bad,” he said. “It was hard, but I’m very appreciative. I got my feet under me now, and I’m just ready to work.”

Now, Merritt is a part of a defensive end group that is hungry to make an impact behind the likes of standout Will Heldt. The Colorado transfer will have to fend off the likes of fifth-year Jahiem Lawson, junior Darien Mayo, sophomore Ari Watford and fifth-year transfer C.J. Wesley for the other side of the edge to get reps. 

However, he still thinks that the entire unit is getting slept on entering 2026, with some not even counting the Tigers in their matchup with LSU in September. 

“People are going to make us look like the underdogs,” Merritt said, “but I feel like we’re going to definitely surprise a lot of people and come out strong.”

College football teams don’t have preseason games, like everywhere else around football, meaning if anybody counts out Clemson, Merritt warns them. 

“They just don’t know, and they’re just going to have to find out.”