When Dawson Merritt was growing up, he never thought his best sport would be football. The standout linebacker from Blue Valley was focused on playing basketball through his youth and going into high school.
âI was a basketball guy growing up, so I never even really thought I was going to be playing football,â Merritt said. âMy first year of football was my freshman year of high school.â
Merrittâs game developed after his first season as a freshman and the next year he found himself starting on varsity. When he started his football career he looked to his father for some extra coaching. And that is not a bad place to get advice.
Dave Merritt is the cornerbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and a coaching veteran of over 20 years in the NFL.
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âMy dad kind of thought I was just kind of playing around with it because my freshman year, I wasn’t very good,â he said. âMy sophomore year, I was a starter on varsity. That’s when I’d say I got a lot better, but I still wasn’t very good. And then this year, I obviously made a huge jump.â
Merritt said his father makes it out to a practice when time allows and started to help a lot more his junior season.
âThis year was the first year he kind of really started to help me out,â Merritt said. âAnd just even the little things he would say, like how to take on a block, what to do when the tackle does this, what to do when a receiver does this.
âIt’s just all the little things that he knows has helped me and help my teammates out. He’s come to a decent amount of our practices as well and just kind of likes to help out.â
The four-star linebacker saw his recruiting skyrocket last fall. He received over 15 offers from Power Five schools and the recruiting has yet to slow down. His latest offers have come from schools including Alabama, Florida State, Michigan and others.
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Merritt has taken unofficial visits to Kansas and plans to return to Lawrence on Tuesday for the basketball game against Kansas State. Members of the KU coaching staff made stops at Blue Valley in the early evaluation period.
Head coach Lance Leipold visited the school and linebackers Chris Simpson has been involved in the recruiting.
âIt’s been really fun getting to know him,â Merritt said of Simpson. âThe part that I love about our relationship is the fact that we don’t always talk about football. We talk about anything. I mean, we have a pretty good relationship. We talk a couple of times a week.â
Merritt plans to narrow his list of schools to 10 soon. Two of his official visits are set to Oklahoma and Nebraska with more to come. This spring he said he will visit Ole Miss, Alabama, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
âThere are things I am looking for in a school,â Merritt said. âOne is stability in a head coach. I want to play for a coach who I know in my heart that he’ll be there for three or four years. I want to play for a position coach who’s going to develop me on and off the field as a human being as well.
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He continued: âAnother thing I’d say is I want to play for a winning program. I want to play for a team who is definitely going to be in the Top 25 and winning games. I want a chance at a national championship. I want to be able to go to a school where I enjoy the city, where even if I wasn’t playing football, I would love to live there.â
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NC State Game Notes | Kansas Game Notes
RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State men’s basketball team hosts 19th-ranked Kansas Saturday evening inside Lenovo Center.
The game will feature the first-ever attempt at Stripe Out in the Lenovo Center. Click this link and put your seat information in and it will tell you what color to wear.
Tipoff against the Jayhawks is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN. NC State fans can also listen to Matt Chazanow and Chucky Brown call the action on the Wolfpack Sports Network.
Pack Notes
NC State dominated Liberty, 85-45, Wednesday night. Liberty entered the game as one of the best offenses in the nation through the first five weeks of the season. They led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, were second in the NCAA in fewest turnovers per game and field goal percentage, fourth in three-point field goal percentage and fifth in three-pointers per game. But the Pack’s defense stopped the Liberty attack from the beginning as the Flames made a season-low six three-pointers and shot season-lows in overall field goal percentage (35.3%) and three-point field goal percentage (21.4%). Liberty also had a season-high 17 turnovers in the loss.
The 45 points for Liberty are the fewest for an NC State opponent since the Pack held Jacksonville to 43 in a 79-43 win for the Pack on Nov. 20, 2014.
Ven-Allen Lubin and Matt Able tied for the team-high in scoring in the win over Liberty with each player scoring 13 points. After scoring in double figures just once in the Pack’s first three games this season, Lubin has now scored in double figures in seven consecutive games. He has shot over 50 percent from the field in every game this season and leads the ACC and ranks 10th in the NCAA in field goal percentage at 67.5 percent.
In the last four games, Lubin is averaging 17.8 points per game and is shooting 72.5 percent (29-of-40) from the field.
NC State ranks near the top in the ACC in scoring (3rd – 88.8 ppg), field goal percentage (2nd – 50.2%), 3-point percentage (1st – 40.0%) and free throw percentage (4th – 76.3%).
Pick Your Poison: NC State has had five different players score 20-plus points in a game this season, tied with Pitt for the most in the ACC. Four Wolfpack players (Quadir Copeland, Ven-Allen Lubin, Paul McNeil, Jr., and Darrion Williams) have reached the 20-point mark in multiple games—more than any other team in the conference.
Quadir Copeland was flirting with a triple-double on Wednesday as he finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. He checked out of the game with 9:57 to play and never came back in. Over his last four games, Copeland is averaging 18.5 points, 6.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 63.4 percent (26-of-41) from the field. The Philadelphia native has passed out 24 assists against just seven turnovers (3.43 asst-TO ratio) in the last four outings.
Saturday Storylines
– NC State’s 40-point victory over Liberty on Wednesday moved the Pack up 11 spots in the NET rankings to No. 30. NC State’s average opponent NET rank though 10 games is 133 which ranks as the best opponent NET ranking of any ACC team. Five of the Pack’s first 10 games this season are currently Q1 or Q2 games. NC State still has three non-conference games remaining and as of the current NET rankings will play one more Q1 game (Dec. 13 vs. Kansas) and one more Q2 game (neutral site game vs. Ole Miss on Dec. 21).
– Dating back to the 2016-17 season, NC State has a 72-3 (.960) record against non-conference opponents in regular season home games.
– Saturday’s game is the highest ranked non-conference opponent to visit Raleigh since seventh-ranked Auburn played at NC State on Dec. 19, 2018. The Pack defeated the eventual Final Four participant Tigers, 78-71, behind a then career-high 27 points from junior guard Markell Johnson. Saturday’s game against the Jayhawks is the Pack’s first home game against a ranked opponent since March 4, 2024 when NC State fell to ninth-ranked Duke, 79-64. That NC State team got revenge on Duke twice in the next three weeks, beating the Blue Devils in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament 10 days later and then knocking off Duke again in the Elite Eight to advance to the Final Four.
– Familiar with the Jayhawks – Saturday’s game will mark the third consecutive season that Darrion Williams has faced Kansas and he helped lead Texas Tech to wins over the Jayhawks each time. Last season he scored 14 points as Texas Tech won in Allen Fieldhouse for just the second time in school history. In the 2023-24 season, Williams was named Associated Press National Player of the Week after shooting a perfect 12-of-12 from the field on his way to a 30-point, 11-rebound double-double. He tied the Texas Tech and Big 12 records for single-game field goal percentage, being the first in Tech history and second in Big 12 history to go 12-for-12 from the field. According to ESPN Stats and Info after the game, Williams was also the first player in the last 25 seasons to have 30 points, 10 or more rebounds and shoot 100% against a ranked team.
– Ven has been unstoppable in second half of games this season: A missed shot midway through the second half against Liberty on Wednesday snapped a streak of 24 consecutive made second half field goals for Ven-Allen Lubin. His streak started with two makes against Boise State in the second half on Nov. 25, the next day he was 6-6 against Texas in the second half, he then went 3-3 at Auburn, 9-9 against UNC Asheville and made his first four second half field goal attempts against Liberty before finally missing a second half shot. In 10 games this season, Lubin is shooting 82.1 percent (32-of-39) from the field in the second half. He’s also made 14-of-his-15 free throw attempts in the final 20 minutes of games this season which means his second half shooting splits are 82.1/50/93.3.
– Second Half Pack: NC State is averaging 48.8 points and shooting 55 percent from the field in the second half of its 10 games this season. In addition to Lubin’s second half efforts mentioned above, Quadir Copeland has also been fantastic in the second half as he’s shot 69.4 percent (25-of-36) in the second half of games this season. Overall the Pack’s top five scorers in the second half (Quadir Copeland, Darrion Williams, Ven-Allen Lubin, Paul McNeil, Jr., and Tre Holloman) combine to shoot 60.8 percent from the field in the second half, including 51.2 percent (44-of-86) from three-point range.
– Pack’s starting unit is giving NC State a lethal offensive punch through the first 10 games. NC State’s normal starting lineup (Quadir Copeland, Tre Holloman, Ven-Allen Lubin, Paul McNeil, Jr., and Darrion Williams) are combining to average 66.2 points per game and shooting an efficient 53.9 percent (226-of-419) from the field, including 45 percent (76-of-169) from three-point range. Four of the Pack’s starters are shooting 50.7 percent or better from the field.
– Watch the foul trouble – NC State ranks last in the ACC and 309th nationally in fouls, averaging 19.9 per game. In the Pack’s seven wins, they’ve outscored opponents by a combined 29 points at the free throw line. But in their three losses, they’ve been outscored by 20 at the line and have lost those games by a combined 26 points.
– NC State outrebounded Liberty by 11 in the win on Wednesday and is now 6-0 when it outrebounds its opponent and just 1-3 when it doesn’t this season.
– NC State outscored Liberty, 42-24, in the paint on Wednesday and has now scored 40 or more paint points in half of its games this season. For the season, NC State is averaging 35.6 paint points per game and only once this season (vs. Seton Hall) has the Pack been outscored in the paint.
– Overall through 10 games, the Pack is +112 over its opponents in paint points.
NC State series with Kansas
– Saturday will be the 15th all-time meeting between NC State and Kansas. Kansas has a 13-1 advantage all-time against the Pack and have won the last 13 games between the two programs.
– Last Meeting (December 14, 2024): NC State dug itself into an early hole and never was able to fully recover in falling to Kansas, 75-60, in Lawrence last season. NC State had battled back from an early 19-3 deficit to trail by just seven, 48-41, on a Ben Middlebrooks lay-up with 14:04 to go in the game. On the ensuing possession the Pack got a steal and had a chance to cut further into the Jayhawks’ lead, but Middlebrooks jumper was off the mark and Kansas made a three-pointer on its next possession to push the lead back into double digits and the Pack never got within single digits again.
The NC State Wolfpack (7-3) face the No. 19 Kansas Jayhawks (7-3) on Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. ET. The matchup airs on ESPN.
How to watch Kansas Jayhawks vs. NC State Wolfpack
Kansas vs. NC State odds
Odds provided by BetMGM.
Stats to know
NC State has a +161 scoring differential, topping opponents by 16.1 points per game. It is putting up 88.8 points per game to rank 23rd in college basketball and is giving up 72.7 per outing to rank 173rd in college basketball.
NC State hits 10.6 three-pointers per game (35th in college basketball) while shooting 40.0% from deep (14th in college basketball). It is making 1.4 more threes per outing than its opponents, who drain 9.2 per game while shooting 33.8%.
Kansas has a +109 scoring differential, topping opponents by 10.9 points per game. It is putting up 74.6 points per game, 243rd in college basketball, and is allowing 63.7 per contest to rank 16th in college basketball.
Kansas knocks down 7.1 three-pointers per game (250th in college basketball) compared to its opponents’ 6.6. It shoots 34.0% from deep, and its opponents shoot 24.9%.
This watch guide was created using technology provided by Data Skrive.
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Photo: Patrick Smith, Andy Lyons, Steph Chambers, Jamie Squire / Getty Images
Cornhuskers’ volleyball star Harper Murray shares her pride in growing women’s volleyball and inspiring young athletes in Nebraska.
Sports Seriously
The NCAA volleyball tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Nebraska, continued its undefeated season on Friday.
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The Huskers improved to 33-0 after sweeping No. 4 Kansas in the 2025 NCAA regional semifinal in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Huskers advance to the regional final to face No. 3 Texas A&M on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC).
Nebraska has not dropped a set in the postseason. In fact, the Huskers have dropped seven sets all season, the last coming nearly a month ago on Nov. 14 against UCLA.
“We work really hard,” said Andi Jackson, who finished with nine kills on .600 hitting, five blocks and two digs. “It’s all coming to fruition right now with just how many attempts we’re getting and how many kills we’re getting.”
USA TODAY Sports provided live updates and highlights from the match below:
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MUST READ: NCAA volleyball Sweet 16 bracket, Friday’s scores, highlights
Live score updates: Nebraska 3, Kansas 0
Set 3 final: Nebraska 25, Kansas 12
Nebraska swept Kansas after winning the third set, 25-12. The Huskers have now won 29 straight NCAA tournament matches at home. Andi Jackson (nine kills on .600 hitting) and Rebekah Allick (nine kills on 1.000 hitting) combined for 18 kills with no errors. Nebraska hit .450 collectively, while holding Kansas to .029 hitting.
Set 3: Nebraska first to 15 vs. Kansas
Nebraska is in the driver’s seat once again and was the first team to reach 15 points in the third set, leading 15-8. The Huskers are hitting .762, while Kansas is hitting .353 in the set so far.
Set 2 final: Nebraska 25, Kansas 11
No. 1 Nebraska went on a 5-0 run to claim the second set, 25-11. The Huskers have been dominant on both sides of the ball, recording 22 kills and 17 total blocks through the first two sets, all while holding Kansas to a negative hitting percentage (-.039).
“Our blocking. That’s probably going to be a season high for us,” Huskers coach Dani Busboom Kelly said when asked what she’s liking from her team. “I just feel like we came out on a mission. Our goal was to block a lot of balls tonight.”
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Nebraska’s Rebekah Allick has been the hot hand, with nine kills on nine attempts, hitting a perfect 1.000. Andi Jackson added five kills on .500 hitting, in addition to five blocks.
Set 2: Nebraska 13, Kansas 7
The Huskers cruised through the first set, but the second set started out much closer. Kansas cut Nebraska’s lead to 9–7, but the Huskers responded with a 4–0 run to go up 13–7. Rebekah Allick has been the hot hand, with nine kills on nine attempts, hitting a perfect 1.000.
Set 1 final: Nebraska 25, Kansas 12
Nebraska looked every bit like the No. 1 overall seed in a dominant first set against No. 4 Kansas. The Huskers collectively hit .357 and registered six blocks against the Jayhawks, who were held to a negative hitting percentage (-.024) in the first set. Rebekah Allick led the Huskers with six kills on six attempts, while Andi Jackson added four blocks and three kills.
Nebraska takes 12-3 lead vs. Kansas
It was all Nebraska to start. The Huskers jumped to a 12-3 lead over Kansas. Andi Jackson is already up to four blocks for Nebraska, while Harper Murray and Bergen Reilly each added two blocks. Kansas is hitting -.200.
How to watch Nebraska volleyball tonight vs. Kansas
The game Friday begins at 9:30 p.m. ET.
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How to watch, stream Nebraska volleyball play Kansas in NCAA tournament
ESPN2 will broadcast the Nebraska vs. Kansas match.
Live stream Nebraska volleyball on ESPN+ (subscriber only)
Nebraska volleyball’s starting lineup
Nebraska volleyball coaching staff
Head Coach: Dani Busboom Kelly
Busboom succeeded longtime coach and mentor John Cook in January. The Nebraska alum won national titles with the program as a player in 2006 and as an assistant coach in 2015. Nebraska (32-0) has kicked off the Busboom Kelly era with its first undefeated season since 2000. Although Busboom Kelly said, “whoever is (coaching Nebraska) would be doing well,” her players argue otherwise.
“When (Busboom Kelly) came in here, that Nebraska standard wasn’t lost at all. She knew what she wanted and she really pushes us to reach that level,” Nebraska middle blocker Andi Jackson told USA TODAY Sports.
Nebraska outside hitter Harper Murray carefully tapes her hands before every match.
She inscribes ’27’ on the tape binding her left ring finger in honor of her late father Vada Murray, who died when she was 5 years old. He wore No. 27 while playing football at Michigan. Murray then writes former coach John Cook’s initials on her left pointer finger, “a father figure” that helped her grow as a player. She also adds Huskers head coach Dani Busboom Kelly’s initials on her middle finger as a reminder to lay it all on the line.
The initials on her right hand changes every year. She told USA TODAY Sports, “Every year for the past three years, I have written the location of the Final Four. On my pointer finger and my middle finger, I have the letters ‘KC,’ which is Kansas City, which is where the NCAA Tournament is held this year.” Full story here.
Freshman setter Campbell Flynn suffered a broken pinky finger, according to former head coach John Cook’s pregame radio show. Flynn will be out the remainder of the season with the injury. The freshman averaged 4.50 assists per set.
Nebraska has three Player of the Year semifinalists
When the AVCA Player of the Year semifinalists were announced in November, Nebraska had three of the 14 players on the list — Andi Jackson, Harper Murray and junior setter Bergen Reilly. It’s another example of the Huskers’ depth.
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“We have arguably the best in each position for the country,” Andi Jackson told USA TODAY Sports. “We have the best setter in the country, we have the best outside in the country. And I think it just shows how strong our team is, especially at that front row that we have. When Harper (Murray), Bergen (Reilly) and I are up, we always give each other a smile because we know what we have to offer.”
The trio led Nebraska to the nation’s top hitting percentage (.353) and fourth-highest kill per set mark (14.72).
No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 3 Texas A&M, 3 p.m. ET | ABC
No. 1 Texas vs. No. 3 Wisconsin, 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN
NCAA women’s volleyball bracket
Find the full NCAA women’s volleyball tournament bracket on the NCAA website.
Nebraska stats, top players
Nebraska’s nation-leading offense is led by junior outside hitter Harper Murray (347 kills), junior middle blocker Andi Jackson (273) and senior middle blocker Rebekah Allick (235).
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Murray also leads the team in service aces (30) and is among the top four on defense for digs. (212). Allick and Jackson lead the team in blocks (121 and 112, respectively).
Setter Bergen Reilly (1,011 assists) runs the show and also is second on the team for digs (264), behind Laney Choboy (276 digs). Olivia Mauch (256 digs) joins them in keeping the ball off the floor.
Kansas stats, top players
Kansas has a trio of heavy hitters with Jovana Zelenovic (369 kills), who also leads the team with 46 serving aces; Rhian Swanson (346 kills); and Reese Ptacek (325 kills).
Senior Katie Dalton (769 assists) and sophomore Cristin Cline (552 assists) anchor the team at the setter position. On defense, Ryan White (5-8 digs) and Grace Nelson (298 digs) lead the way.
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