5′10″ · 196 lb · Humble, TX
Elijah Merchant: CB · Navy · #14.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Elijah Merchant
Gets targeted often and tackles in space. Second year in the Navy secondary. On tape: 7 tackles against Air Force, Week 6, 2017.
Play style
Targeted often and asked to tackle in space on the perimeter.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
46 tackles. 4 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 0.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about him by name this season.
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Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 13 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 42-19@ Florida Atlantic | 4 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 23-21vs Tulane | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 42-32vs Cincinnati | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 5 | W 31-21@ Tulsa | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 48-45vs Air Force | 7 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 7 | L 27-30@ Memphis | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 8 | L 21-31vs No. 20 UCF | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 26-34@ Temple | 5 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 43-40vs SMU | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 17-24@ No. 9 Notre Dame | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | L 14-24@ Houston | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 15 | L 13-14vs Army | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 49-7vs Virginia | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 46 | 38 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 4 |
Week 6 · 2017
W 48-45
vs Air Force
7 tackles · 1 pass breakup · 7 solo tackles
Edged out Air Force at home in a shootout.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
9%4 pass breakupsTackle volume
46tackles this season46 tackles · 0.5 for loss · 4 pass breakups.
2 seasons under Ken Niumatalolo, all run-heavy offenses — 16-11 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Road6g | 2.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 3.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 3.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Ken Niumatalolo
Pass share
10.9%
99 pass / 813 run
Plays / game
70.2
13 games
Team sack rate
10.0%
100 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Player standing · 2017
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
How it ended
Two seasons at Navy, 65 tackles — his college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2014–2017
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Ken Niumatalolo.
