Hard work pays off for Mercer with UM football team

The halls were full at Libby High School that fall day, much like any other day. Students moving through the corridors between classes, a laugh here, someone drops a stack of books there. It was a typical day until a 5-foot-9, 120-pound freshman football player ran down the hall with a piece of paper.

“Cleared to play,” he said, showing off the doctor's signature. “It's time to play football.”

That short, skinny high school freshman football player was George Mercer, who is now a 6-3, 240-pound senior defensive end for the University of Montana. The Grizzlies will play host to Appalachian State on Saturday in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Mercer’s journey from scrawny Libby High School freshman to college football player wasn’t easy. When Coach Neil Fuller took over the Logger football program in 2003, he noticed that Mercer was a special talent.

“He had a great work ethic,” Fuller said. “He was small, probably 170-175, and he was starting to put on some weight.”

Mercer realized the importance of Fuller in his development as a football player.

“When Coach Fuller got there he made it more than about having something to do on Friday nights in the fall,” Mercer said. “I learned a lot from Coach Fuller. He helped prepare me to go to the next level. He taught me to put in the extra hours.”

Mercer used that increased weight to become a big part of the Loggers football program during the first two years of Fuller’s reign.

“He made some big plays for us,” Fuller said. “His junior year, in the quarterfinals against Havre, he had a big interception for us.

“During his senior season he went over the top of a corner to make a big catch in the playoff game against Sydney,” Fuller added. “That catch was one of the plays of the year.”

Successful high school athletes often have an easy path to getting on a college field, but Mercer didn’t have that easy road. He received some offers from small colleges, mostly NAIA schools around Montana, but that was not acceptable to him.

He wanted to be at the University of Montana. He grew up watching the Grizzlies and his family members have been fans for as long as he could remember. His dad watched games at the old Dornblaser Field. The U of M School of Business also had a finance program that he wanted to pursue.

“It was frustrating, he wasn’t even asked to walk on,” Fuller said. “He was too athletic not to be playing college football somewhere.”

But there he was, sitting in the stands, watching the Grizzlies. He was trying to enjoy his college days and have fun but he was having a hard time.

“I felt like a nobody, I missed being in the paper and being on the field,” Mercer said. “I just missed playing the game.”

He made a decision that fall that will probably affect the rest of his life.

“Even if I had to play for free, I knew I wanted to play here,” Mercer said.

Mercer turned to his high school coach for help. In response, Fuller called Montana coach Tim Hauck – head coach Bobby Hauck’s uncle – who was in charge of winter conditioning for the Grizzlies. They were able to get Mercer into the winter conditioning class. From there it was on the shoulders of Mercer to make his way onto the field.

“George is a self-made man,” Bobby Hauck said. “We didn’t even know who he was and he came into winter conditioning and made an immediate impact.”

“It is a great story,” Fuller said. “He did it the tough way, he walked on and he earned a spot. That takes a lot of courage and intestinal fortitude.”

Mercer quickly learned the difference between the Libby Loggers and the Montana Grizzlies.

“We don’t have an offseason, it is pretty much 365 football,” Mercer said of the Griz program.

Mercer had some surprises with the Grizzlies. Coaches saw his potential, not as a receiver or on the offense but as a defensive end. So, he made the switch to the defensive side of the ball.

Any football fan in the state can identify the biggest game of the year. Whether you call it Cat-Griz, Griz-Cat, the Divide War, or The Brawl of the Wild, the Montana-Montana State football game is the state’s biggest college rivalry.

The defining moment of Mercer’s career came in the 2008 game. In the waning minutes, Mercer intercepted a pass from MSU quarterback Mark Desin and returned it 73 yards for the final score in a 35-3 victory over the Bobcats.

“The play started off pretty normal, I read the play, saw it was a pass, and dropped into my coverage,” Mercer said. “From my perspective he threw it right at me, I stuck my hands up and caught the ball. The rest of it seems like a blur.

“I didn’t realize it was 73 yards, if you would have asked me I would have said like 40,” he added.

The game was special for more than the interception. The jerseys worn for that game were special throwback copper and gold jerseys – modeled after those worn by the Grizzlies until the end of the 1995 season.

“To get to be on the team that wore the copper and gold, that was a once in a lifetime experience,” Mercer said.

Mercer only has one goal in mind for the end of his senior season.

“It would be great going out winning it all,” Mercer said.

But if the Grizzlies can’t capture the national championship, Mercer knows he still has accomplished something even more important.

“I will graduate in May with my degree in business finance.”

(Jerek Wolcott, a student at the University of Montana in Missoula and a Libby High School graduate, is media editor for MontanaGrizzlies.com )