Andover forward Trinity bound

New England Recruiting Report | Saturday, December 27th, 2014

Andover High School and Middlesex Magic forward Connor Merrinder is headed to Trinity College next year after recently being accepted to the NESCAC school.

The six-foot-six forward was widely recruited by a variety of top academic small colleges, but ultimately decided on the Bantams. Trinity head coach Jamie Cosgrove is no stranger to the Andover program. In fact his son, Casey Cosgrove, who is now an assistant at Franklin Pierce, previously starred there before playing at Quinnipiac and Adelphi.

Merinder has had a decorated high school career of his own as a four year varsity player and two year captain who was named to ESPN Boston’s pre-season all-state second team.

He’s backed up those expectations to start his senior year, not only continuing to anchor Andover’s defense but also showing off an enhanced offensive game.

Merinder becomes the 10th Middlesex Magic product to commit in the 2015 class joining: Jackson Donahue (Penn); Collin McManus (Penn); Isaiah McLeod (Southern Connecticut); Michael Grassey (Hamilton); Brendan OShea (Rochester); Rohan Shukla (Haverford); Aidan Wright (Kenyon); Hugh ONeil (Bowdoin); and Trevor Dow (Harvard volleyball).

“Connor Merinder is one of the most versatile and tough players that has come through our program in a long time,” Middlesex Magic director Michael Crotty Jr. said.  “Connor can score the ball inside and out and he can defend both forwards and guards as well.  Perhaps his best skill as a player is his relentless rebounding ability.  He has great technique, intuition, and his toughness and persistence make him a high-level rebounder.”

“Connor is a tremendous student-athlete and I believe he will fit in wonderfully at Trinity on and off the court.”