Longhorns Hire Former NFL Scout To Personnel Department

The Longhorns made a major addition to their off the field staff

Matt Galatzan | May 5, 2022

AUSTIN - The Texas Longhorns have had one major issue that has seemingly towered above most others over the last decade.

The ability to find and develop real talent.

On Thursday, Texas reportedly made a major move aimed toward fixing those issues, hiring former long-time NFL scout and SEC talent evaluator, Bobby Merritt.

Merritt, who has more than a dozen years of experience in the NFL, as well as significant time spent in the SEC and CFL, comes the 40 Acres in an off-field personnel and scouting role.

Merritt was so successful along the way, the he became the assistant GM of the CFL's Edmonton Elks, based largely on his scouting prowess.

“Bobby is an experienced talent evaluator,” Edmonton Elks GM Brock Sunderland said last year when announcing Merritt's promotion to assistant GM. “who has spent over a decade as an NFL scout along with multiple roles at NCAA programs. He’s spent the last four years evaluating players for the CFL, and we’re excited to promote him to our assistant GM.”

This hiring could not come at a better time for the Longhorns, who are fresh off of an embarrassing 5-7 campaign in 2021, and an even more embarrassing NFL Draft, in which the program was shut out of the draft for the first time since 2014, and just the third time in school history (1938).

roschon — Aaron E. Martinez, Austin American-Statesman

The Longhorns did have six players sign as undrafted free agents following the conclusion of the draft.

The aforementioned shortcomings in talent scouting and development have never been more pronounced than in the 2019 recruiting class for Texas, however, with 19 players from that class having either transferred from or left the roster.

Just six players from that class -- wideout Jordan Whittington, Running back Roschon Johnson, linebacker David Gbenda, tight end Brayden Leibrock, defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat and offensive lineman Isaiah Hookfin remain on the roster.

And just three of those players (Whittington, Johnson and Sweat) play significant snaps.

The hope for the Longhorns is that Merritt can help change that trend.

And considering the fact that he played a big role in making sure J.J. Watt landed with the Houston Texans, and has extensive connections in the Houston area, among other qualifications, he seems to be a good fit for the task.

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Published May 5, 2022

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.