At first glance, Dshaun Merriweather doesn’t look like much of a lineman.
At 5-10 and 180 pounds, Merriweather is easily MacArthur’s smallest “big man”, but his size can be deceiving. When he lines up in his stance, he’s just an undersized lineman, but once the ball is snapped, his instinct kicks in and he develops an insatiable hunger to engage in battle with his enemies.
This thirst for combat forms the very essence of who Merriweather is on the football field. So, whenever he is outmatched by a larger opponent, he taps into those pure-base instincts that exist within him, waiting to be released.
Simply put, when Merriweather is pushed to his limit on the gridiron, something snaps and his hidden strength comes surging out.
“Some of the football players know I’m a crazy person, so when I do start getting beat up a little bit, I just try to put more heart in,” Merriweather said. “I just try to hit them as hard as I can and try to move them. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but I have to try something else. Most of the time I just try to get really physical.”
Off the field, he is a soft-spoken young man, but when the helmet and shoulders pads are strapped on, Merriweather becomes a different person. He constantly terrorized Eisenhower’s offense last Friday, racking up eight tackles and 4.5 sacks in the Highlanders’ 39-7 win.
However, perhaps even more shocking than his transformation is from where he draws his inspiration.
Merriweather is an avid anime fan, citing “Dragon Ball Z” as his favorite show. Anime is a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults and children.
“I’m a little bit of a nerd,” Merriweather said. “I like to watch anime and play video games in my free time, when I do have free time. I watch “Dragon Ball Z” and “Naruto”, mostly the mainstream ones. I’m watching “Dragon Ball Z” with my family right now.”
Of the many fighting-crazed characters in the show, Merriweather said he identifies with Gohan – the son of the main protagonist, Goku.
Throughout the series, Gohan, a half-breed member of the Saiyan race, was placed in seemingly no-win situations against foes who were bigger, stronger and faster than him.
However, Gohan, even from a young age, was portrayed to have a vast amount of hidden potential. For much of the series, that potential revealed itself only when he experienced rage or distress.
He was able to fully harness his hidden power when he was only an adolescent, transforming into a Super Saiyan 2 to save the earth from the villainous Cell, an artificial lifeform created from a combination of the main characters’ cells.
A Super Saiyan 2 is the upgraded version of the original Super Saiyan form. A Super Saiyan is a legendary transformation in the Saiyan race that increases the users’ fighting strength 50-fold, making their hair become spiky and golden and their eyes change to a greenish blue shade.
Although it is hard to compare real life to an anime involving supernatural abilities, Merriweather said Gohan’s character development matches the challenges he’s faced as a small lineman.
“I’d say I relate to teen Gohan the most,” Merriweather said. “That’s when he had to overcome the most challenges. That’s when he didn’t believe in himself and didn’t think he could beat Cell. When it came to him being pushed to his limit, he was able to overcome it.”
Pushing himself to the edge and overcoming obstacles is exactly what Merriweather does on a daily basis, whether it be in the classroom or on the field.
“In school, I take a lot of (advanced placement) classes and have to push myself,” Merriweather said. “I take them to challenge myself. In football, I’m a small lineman who goes up against bigger people and gets beat up all the time.”
Merriweather admits his interest in the show might come off as odd to many, especially when considering the social stigma that surrounds anime. Although the genre targets an audience of all ages, it has a reputation of being only for children because of its cartoonish appearance.
The subject matter of the shows and how athletes like Merriweather connect with them says otherwise, though.
“There are life lessons in anime, and there are things some characters go through like hardships,” Merriweather said. “You can always overcome a hardship no matter how devastating it is. They take real-life experiences and put them in anime and show how characters overcome them, and most of the time it’s with powers or with friends and family. In real life, friends and family can help you through those hard times.”
Merriweather’s knack for overcoming adversity isn’t the only thing he has in common with the anime hero.
After defeating Cell, Gohan gave up fighting for an extended period of time to focus on his education and career goals. Similarly, Merriweather plans to hang up his cleats after this season and pursue a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University.
“I don’t really want to play football in college unless I get a full-ride,” Merriweather said. “I plan to go to OSU for architectural engineering. I took a tour there and saw their architecture building and program, and I loved it. Last year, I took a class for architectural engineering at Great Plains Technology Center, and that really sparked my interest. I made two models of house designs, and I used one of the computer programs they have to make a 3D animation of the house designs that I made.
“I’ve always liked to build and destroy things. I always built and played with Legos and played Minecraft — pretty much any games where you have to think and be creative and build some kind of structure. Now I’m just trying to find the best way to pursue it.”
Until then, though, Merriweather will continue surprising opponents on both sides of the ball with his unorthodox tenacity.
After all, dealing with the brutes he does on a weekly basis requires a special kind skill and aptitude.
“I’d say it takes some Super Saiyan strength,” Merriweather said.