Shawne Merriman hosting annual coat drive at UMD

Lights-out season here. Giving back to the community to help shape him. Former NFL linebacker, Maryland star Sean Merriman once again hosting his annual coat drive at Maryland Saturday. And guess what? Sean also getting ready to be inducted into the Maryland Hall of Fame. And he joins us now to talk about why this is all so important to you. It's always good to see you, man. Good to see you, man, as always. So let's talk coat drive first, and we'll talk about your personal accolades. Listen, you do this every year. Each year it gets better and better and better and better. It's got to feel good for you to know that, you know, it's been a minute since you were in Maryland, but you're still giving back to the community in which you grew up and which raised you. Yeah, you know, growing up and raised here in Prince George's County, Maryland, man, getting a chance to come back for my 24th annual. I can't believe that. My 24th annual winter coat drive, the University of Maryland Rutgers football game. I'll be out there for my 24th year straight. It's a little easier now I'm not playing. I don't have to ask the coach for a couple days off permission to come fly back for the coat drive. But it's been great, man, because, you know, over the years, you saw the turn in Maryland, the staff, the students, and everybody still comes back to be a part of this thing. You know, growing up here, not having a coat, being homeless multiple times as a kid, and now being able to continue with my 24th annual winter coat drive here. You know, Sean, some players, I'm not trying to blow you up here, but some players do amazing things, and some people don't. It's their personal preference. But to you, when you started doing this 24 years ago, did you have that vision that you wanted to keep doing this long after the playing days were over no no i just thought that initially we were going to get about a couple hundred coats and you know a lot of people got behind it we got a lot of news coverage a lot of media coverage and you know that first coat drive was 2,800 coats collected we are now over 43,000 coats collected over the last 24 years and you know yeah i've been able to come back but it's been so many people the maryland staff the coaches the players you know we had the maryland university of maryland wrestling team come out and just be a part of this thing and students coming to help out. So I wouldn't have been able to do it if they weren't involved. No doubt about it. Let's let people know right now if they can still donate. Do they come out to the game? What's the best way to do it? Come out. Come out this Saturday. It'll be a homecoming for the University of Maryland as well. A lot of my former teammates that I played with will be there. Thank you DTLR for being the 10th year. Now DTLR has been a big part of this thing and helping out. So it's just been great, man. I mean, I got a little extra gray hair. I didn't have gray hairs when I first started out. And it's always a little bit crazy to see uh 24 years ago the 10 11 year olds come and now they got kids right so it's always a little bit weird when they come back but um it's been great man to be a part of this thing it's great come out and support not just University of Maryland and Sean but obviously you're helping the community Sean grew up here he knows how important that is to him to keep this going well i said i wasn't going to blow you up Sean but i'm going to uh congratulations Maryland Hall of Fame uh it's about time what is something like this i mean you've had accolades at every step of your of your life what does something like this mean to you as someone who was so good growing up in Prince George's County in high school sports you could have gone anywhere you stayed at home for Maryland now to get the honor here what does that mean to you it's everything it's everything because you know growing up here in the area uh he was the number one player coming out in high school a lot of the number one guys in the past they leave and go to another university you don't hear about them unless they're on tv again uh so you know going to Frederick Douglass High School Forestville Boys and Girls Club. And then all of my coaches and Boys and Girls Club coaches will be there tomorrow at my induction. So I've got some really good stories, and they've got some of mine. But it's going to be good because I was the first to really, you know, come out of this area highly talented, stay home. I believe more kids from this area should stay home. That's my little promotion there for the University of Maryland. But we have so much talent in this area, and I'm glad to be able to do it in front of all my folks. So we hope to do that. We love the local connections. Love to see people go on to amazing things. One other thing, you might not be the only Merriman playing in the league. How's your son doing? He's doing well, man. My son plays quarterback, Justin Merriman, at St. Francis. They dropped one against St. James on Saturday. I was there. So I'm still getting over that one. I got to ask you, Sean. So obviously you experience at all levels of the game. As a parent, though, now your son's still in high school, but clearly going to move on to some great things. How are you as a football dad? You know, it's weird, man, because I try to stay in the background as much as possible because there's enough pressure as it is. But every week we start breaking down game plans. I come and start talking about different coverages and things. So you try to stay. I'm up there sitting in the stands with the rest of the parents, but then I come down on the field and now I start calling out plays. So it's tough, man. But I'm happy for him in going through this process because he's gotten 12, 13 offers and 14 offers so far, University of Maryland being the first. And, you know, he just recently got an offer from North Carolina. My former nemesis is Bill Belichick, so that was a pain on him. But it's been great, man, going through the process. And he's a sophomore, so he's still got time and wanting to just take everything slow and just take it in and enjoy it. I love that you can pay it forward, see that process evolve. And I love also that he's a quarterback, and you're looking at him like this is how I would have taken you out. That's my karma, right? That's my karma for all the years I've done stuff, done the quarterback. So I get a chance to get one of my own. You tell them what to look out for on the field for sure. Go take advantage of the coat drive. Like he said, 40,000-plus coats collected over the years. They're doing it again Saturday at the game at University of Maryland. Go say hi to Sean. Hopefully you'll get a chance to do so. But please drop off some coats in the meantime. Give him a follow online. Sean, always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you, brother. Appreciate it. Good to see you. All right, we'll see you with much more after this.