Season review: John Burroughs Bombers

The John Burroughs football team were only able to play five games this fall, but there were plenty of positives for Bombers coach John Merritt. "I think for us, we only got to play five games but we were together for five months," Merritt said. "When MSHSAA dropped the 20-day restriction, my kids, my seniors, felt pretty strongly that the one thing they wanted to do was be together. ... We started as soon as St. Louis County let us on June 15 and we were together all the way until November 15. That was awesome." Burroughs finished with a 3-2 record, with wins over Priory, Clayton and Pacific and losses to MICDS and Union. "It’s the best 3-2 season I’ve ever had," Merritt said. The coach felt like the Bombers made progress throughout the season and, with a strong group from the Class of 2022 leading the way, could be one of the better small schools in the area next season. Merritt said seniors Xavier Silva (Brown), Malachi Chunn, Chris Pittman, Adam Blumoff and Auggie Nieberle will all play college football somewhere, with those guys either having committed or having narrowed down their options. Here are some of Burroughs’ top prospects looking ahead to the 2021 season... <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37521" first="Tyson" last="Ford"], DE, 6-5, 255, Class of 2022</strong> Ford has emerged as one of the top prospects in the Midwest and already has offers from Oklahoma, Georgia, Notre Dame and Missouri, among many others. "He’s unbelievable," Merritt said. "He’s big and he’s fast and he’s strong. I don’t know how many offers he has, but it seems like 70. He changes one side of the field in a football game." Merritt said opponents ran away from Ford this past season, along with regularly double and triple-teaming him, and while it reduced his numbers it didn’t reduce his impact. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11413155/5fd6567e5b3cdc0afcdda622" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37530" first="Caleb" last="Merritt"], WR, 6-0, 175, Class of 2022</strong> Merritt has early offers from Iowa State, Kansas and Brown and has several schools that he is in communication with, according to his coach. "Offensively he is so explosive," the elder Merritt said. "This season he ended up averaging almost 20 yards per touch for us. ... He has become an explosive athlete. His routes are good and his hands are good." Merritt finished with a team-high 536 total yards. He caught 18 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns and ran the ball 14 times for 219 yards and two touchdowns. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/8590453/5f8cc6b3e984a20b985644db" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="37602" first="Duncan" last="Cloniger"], QB, 6-2, 190, Class of 2022</strong> Cloniger isn't as well known as a prospect as Ford or Merritt, but is a multi-year starter who drew high praise from his coach and will attract significant interest from a variety of colleges. "He'll be in his third full year as a starter (in 2021)," Merritt said. "We really liked him as a freshman, but he was so skinny. He ended up starting some games and was good. He's tremendously poised and tremendously accurate. ... I think he's the smartest quarterback we've ever had." Merritt is careful with that last statement and acknowledges that two of Burroughs' recent quarterbacks went on to play in the Ivy League at Yale and Brown, which could also be where Cloniger ends up. He doesn't have any offers at this point but has attracted a lot of interest. "He just keeps getting bigger and stronger and his best football is definitely ahead of him," Merritt said. Cloniger has put up some strong numbers for the Bombers in the past few years. This fall, in just five games, he completed 75.9 percent of his passes for 1,012 yards, with eight touchdowns against just one interception. In 2019, as a sophomore, he completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,076 yards, with 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11194021/5f9732094797420914b43087" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>Aaron Guller, OL, 6-3, 250, Class of 2022</strong> Guller, who played right tackle this season, was a wide receiver when he was younger and his athleticism has helped him as he's gotten bigger and stronger. "He's athletic," Merritt said. "He runs so well. He's probably the highest recruited offensive lineman I've had. Every team in the Ivy League loves him. He's got a long frame. He's so smart. He's so good. He gets to the second level." Merritt said Guller will likely play guard at the next level but is versatile enough that he could also end up playing center. <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11410731/5fb9855bf31e3811c8465409" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <strong>Adisa Roberts, CB, 5-10, 160, Class of 2022</strong> Merritt said Roberts is a skilled cornerback with fast feet, good hips and ball skill who is working on getting bigger and has drawn early interest from FCS schools. He also earned all-league honors as a kick returner. "He is fearless as a corner," Merritt said. "We put him on our opponents' best wide receiver each week." <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11237139/5fb982d0bd6ac704dc122197" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> &nbsp;