Thursday night, the 100th annual East-West Shrine Bowl took place in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Jacory Croskey-Merritt, a running back out of Arizona, was named the most valuable player.
Croskey-Merritt had 97 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 11 attempts.
Before transferring to Arizona, he played at UNLV in 2023 and at Alabama State from 2019 to 2022. However, due to eligibility issues, Croskey-Merritt was held out for most of the 2024 season. Per CBS Sports, it was unclear as to whether he redshirted at Alabama State his freshman year. The university claimed he played in only four games, but ESPN reported him playing in eight games that season, and according to the NCAA’s manual for the 2024-2025 season, a redshirt player can only play in four games per season.
It’s hard to tell how much this could affect his draft stock, especially with the Senior Bowl coming up. Nevertheless, Croskey-Merritt’s Shrine Bowl performance has got to have put him on some team’s radar. So, keep an eye on this prospect in the next few months; he could be a late-round steal.
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