Da’Mon Teshone Merkerson (born April 5, 1989) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
cornerback
A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...
. He was signed by the
Arizona Cardinals as an
undrafted free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
in 2011. He played
college football at
Syracuse University.
Early years
Merkerson grew up in
Passaic, New Jersey and attended
St. Mary High School in
Rutherford, New Jersey
Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 18,834.
Rutherford was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on September 21, 1881, fr ...
where he was a three-sport athlete. He played
football, basketball and
track. He was All county in football and track and field (400 Meter Dash). After switching back from wide receiver to cornerback in his senior season he found a home at cornerback. Tied for 8th in the Big East with passes defended. Merkerson helped lead the orange to victory against Kansas State in the Inaugural New Era Pinstripe Bowl.
Professional career
Arizona Cardinals
Merkerson signed with the
Arizona Cardinals in July 2011, but he was released just 3 days later.
Arizona Rattlers
From 2012 to 2014, Merkerson had been a member of the
Arizona Rattlers of the
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...
(AFL), helping the team win back-to-back
ArenaBowl Championships.
References
External links
Syracuse bio
1989 births
Living people
American football cornerbacks
Syracuse Orange football players
Arizona Rattlers players
Sportspeople from Passaic, New Jersey
Players of American football from Passaic County, New Jersey
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American people
{{defensiveback-1980s-stub