Images courtesy of Miami Herald & Getty Images

If you were at Top Golf just a few minutes away from Gillette Stadium recently and thought you saw Patriots linebacker Josh Uche and Bryant head coach Chris Merritt together along with other members of the program, you weren’t crazy.

Merritt – the former high school coach of Uche at Christopher Columbus in Florida – and the Pats’ linebacker are still very close.

“Being at Top Golf, I got a chance to meet a couple (members) of the Bryant staff and it was great,” Uche said in a recent interview after Friday’s practice. “I got to talk pass rush with some of the players that were there, some of the recruits that were there, it was great. Definitely a great interaction.”

That wasn’t the first time Uche had been able to spend time with his old coach. Uche also spoke with him and his old college mentor at Michigan, current UMass head coach Don Brown at the MHSFCA Coaches Clinic at Gillette Stadium in March. Merritt and Uche have also gotten together a few other times at Top Golf this summer.

The opportunity Uche has to still lean on two of his former coaches isn’t lost on him. It’s funny how things find a way of working themselves out.

“We stay in contact. We shoot each other texts. I actually saw both of them at the coaching conference here so I got the chance to hang out with them and catch up with them. I felt like my old college, high school self again. It’s amazing,” said Uche. “The style of football I play…this is Title Town, it’s about physical football. So, it’s only fitting. Coach Brown, coming from Coach Merritt, that style translated being able to work with Coach Brown. They both have an old school style. They’re the same type of guy. They’ll get in your face and make sure you’re getting after it. Dr. Blitz (Brown), he’s all about pressure and that’s what I’m about as well. That’s what it’s all about is playing football the way it’s supposed to be played.

“It’s only fitting that all those guys are up here, It’s the way football should be played. It’s amazing how God works, how we’re all just in the same area. It’s a blessing.”

Uche has always been an old school kind of guy, having to grind for any attention he’s ever gotten. Severely under recruited half way through his high school career, Merritt saw Uche turn himself into a dominant player and one that quickly put himself on the map.

“What made Josh so special was his sense of urgency,” Merritt said via text this week. “Everywhere he’s been, including high school, he’s worked hard for everything he’s gotten. After his sophomore year of high school, he wasn’t happy with his production or college recruiting. In 12 months, he transformed himself into a player and became a major prospect. He did it at Michigan and he’s done the same thing in New England.

“His superpower is his lack of patience. He wants to be the best yesterday. You’re going to have trouble finding someone with a higher running motor or desire.”

Merritt may not know it, but much of that desire and high motor from Uche is because of him. From the very beginning, Merritt’s high standards and relentless work ethic were quite motivational to a young Uche.

“Coach Merritt always operated like a general manger almost,” he said. “He was mostly in charge of the offense, but when it came to recruitment or just the way practices were ran, it was college style. I remember first getting to Christopher Columbus and Coach Merritt taking me on a walkthrough and it felt like I was on a college campus. College weight room, college workouts, college type practices and it’s all about football with him. Some places focus on scholarships, some places focus on glitz and glamour, but we were up for 6 a.m. workouts. Midnight Madness, just old school football. Miami style football.

“Coach Merritt was the coach driving to places in Florida where a lot of people don’t like to go, picking up guys and giving them rides to school and back. Coach Merritt did it all. He was a father figure for a lot of guys. I think that’s the epitome of what a head coach should be. It’s amazing how God works, for him to be up here and not being too far away and us hanging out this offseason…he’s just a top notch coach.”

Merritt was also able to provide Uche with clarity during that time in high school, especially when the recruitment letters weren’t flowing in.

“I got a funny story, but it wasn’t funny at the time,” Uche began. “I had a pretty good junior year and I expected the offers to just be rolling in, right? So, going to practice one day, all my teammates are getting letters, they’re all bragging about it, ‘hey look I got this school, hey look I got that school.’ I was feeling left out and a little bit down. Like, ‘I just had a good year. Why am I not getting the letters?’ I remember going to Coach Merritt and sitting down in his office and I asked him ‘why aren’t I getting any letters?’

“He looked at me. He smiles and he goes to his little cabinet, pulls out a letter. On the letter it had the name Joshua King on it. He scratches out the ‘King’ and gives it to me. He says ‘here, you want a letter? Here you go.’ I took the letter, I looked at him, I looked back down at the letter and I didn’t understand at the time. But, I know it wasn’t about the letter, it wasn’t about the glitz and the glamor or the glorification. It’s about the work that’s put in. I ended up going to Michigan. I ended up getting drafted by New England and I ended up here a couple minutes away from him.

“That’s what it came down to. That mental factor that Coach Merritt plays just in terms of keeping the main thing the main thing. He didn’t let me let my mind wander like a lot of other kids did in terms of worrying about letters and offers. He made it about football because he’s an old school style guy. I always appreciated that.”

Merritt left Christopher Columbus following the 2018 season after going 172-45 in 18 seasons, taking the Bryant job in 2019. A year later, Uche wrapped up his career at Michigan and was drafted by New England in 2020. Now, Merritt is leading the Bulldogs into a new era as a member of the ultra competitive CAA conference with a huge commitment from the school behind the program in the form of new facilities. Meanwhile, Uche enters his fifth NFL season in a contract year after betting on himself with a one-year deal, once again putting him in a position where he needs to prove himself to get what he believes he deserves moving forward.

The two of them will face their respective challenges about 20 minutes from each other, knowing the other is still  just a quick text, phone call, or beer at Top Golf away if needed.