The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: Sumter High QB Merchant proving he's not just mayor's son

Being the quarterback of a successful football team comes with outside expectation.

At a program like Sumter High, you have to pick up the baton and carry forward the legacy of winning.

For the Gamecocks' current starting quarterback, there's another level of outside expectation.

Pate Merchant won the starting gig last season and led SHS to a 9-1 regular season before suffering a partial MCL tear in the Gamecocks' regular season finale against Conway.

But he was known in the Sumter community long before he threw his first pass for the Gamecocks.

After all, his dad is the mayor.

As far as Pate is concerned, it's far more stressful to be the starting quarterback at Sumter High than to do so as the mayor's son.

"I don't think I have a ton of pressure, even though my teammates, coaches and people that watch me expect me to play at the top of my game. I also expect that of myself," Pate said. "I expect myself to play at the highest level possible at all times. It doesn't matter what the name of the front of my jersey is or the back. I do know my dad is very proud of me and how I've gone throughout high school and through the successes and failures I've had. He applies no pressure to me as he's helped me through the high school football process."

David Merchant, Sumter's mayor since 2020 and a city councilman since 2012, never wanted his position to put any extra stress on his family. He just wants Pate to be the best version of himself.

"The phrase that (my wife) Laurie and I use in our house is, 'This is the level that we're striving for, whatever it is that the Lord gifted you with.' Everybody has different abilities. We're not all gifted to throw a football; I can't throw a football like him. Whatever that level is, we're going to achieve 100% of that level; that's our goal. We're going to strive to be that," the mayor said. "It's not to be something he's not, it's to challenge him and my other children at whatever their strengths are. We're not comparing ourselves to the lowest common denominator. We're striving to be the best Pate I can be."

RISING TO QUARTERBACK SUCCESS

David could tell from an early age that Pate had a knack for playing quarterback.

"He's always been able to spin a football," David said. "At a young age, you're just like, 'How'd he do that?' A lot of us can throw a spiral, but to really spin it and make that nose go down. When you see a good pass, you know. He's always been able to do that."

Pate didn't start playing the sport competitively until he started Parks and Recreation football in fifth grade. He went to Alice Drive Middle School to play for coach Ivan Sanders and eventually earned the starting gig as an eighth-grader. After that, he worked his way through the ranks at Sumter High, eventually competing with Fred Edwards for the starting spot during his junior season in 2022.

"It was fun. It was just good sense of competition through me and him. We had a great relationship even when we were in the position battle," Pate said. "It brought a lot of competition to the whole team around us, and it pushed me to be my best, and it pushed him to be his best."

When Pate earned the starting job, Edwards shifted to wide receiver and became one of Pate's favorite targets.

"I did enjoy it because we got a really strong and tight friendship through that position battle, became really close friends," Pate said. "I thought it was really fun to be able to throw routes to during games and watching him have success through a different position."

Pate long dreamed of being the starting quarterback at Sumter High, so that first game against Lakewood was a moment he won't forget.

"It was very surreal walking onto the first play, the first time I stepped into a Friday night game; it was definitely a dream come true," Pate said. "It was very fun, very cool, very exciting to be able to step into that role, fill the shoes from players past that have gone and been really good the next level and been really good in high school."

All the while, David was there supporting his son. David has long been a supporter of Sumter High athletics, but his passion grew as Pate stepped into the starting lineup and he grew closer to the team as a whole.

"I think Lori and I stress more than he does about it," David said of wanting to see Pate succeed for the Gamecocks. "He says, 'Dad, there's no need to yell. I can't hear you anyway, so just cheer.' We're probably the first or second people in the stadium on Friday night, and we're sitting at the top of the bleachers with our backs against the snack bar on the 50-yard line just so we can be dialed in.

"We tell our friends, 'We want you to come; please support Sumter High football, but if we don't talk to you, don't be offended during the game.' We want it for all of them because we see how hard all of them work. We want it for the program."

For most of the season, Pate's first year as the starting QB seemed nearly perfect. Sumter High suffered just one regular season loss, a road game against eventual SCHSL 2A state runners-up Oceanside Collegiate. Pate finished his first season as the starter with 1,322 passing yards and seven touchdowns, adding one score on the ground. Sumter High was able to mold their offense to his strength, his mind and his accuracy.

"We put him in a lot of run-pass-option calls where he's making decisions on the field," SHS head coach Mark Barnes said. "We put the ball in the tailback's belly, and if they put one more person down than we can block, then he's going to pull it and throw the ball to take advantage of that. You have to be a smart high school quarterback to be able to do that and do it right.

"We threw the ball more last year. When he was in the game, our production was 50-50 from a yardage standpoint. We look to throw it more this year because he's a senior and more seasoned, and our receiving group is good. We're going to put the ball in his hands more this year."

INJURY SETBACK

Pate's junior season was going swimmingly. He was in the process of leading the Gamecocks to a comfortable 45-0 win over Conway in the regular season finale, completing yet another perfect run through Region V, when tragedy struck.

"I was scrambling," Pate recalled. "I was trying to run out bounds then got clipped by the knee, and I landed on it awkwardly."

That awkward landing, as it turns out, was a partial MCL tear.

"It's crushing," David said of watching the injury. "Football is a violent sport, and just to see him hop up and be a little wobbly and see something's not right."

Pate could still throw the ball, but he couldn't move well. He worked nonstop to try to get back on the field as Sumter High started its playoff run.

"The next morning we were seeing an orthopedist and trying to work as fast as we can, wondering if there was a way to get back on the field," David said. "He was up at about 4:45 every morning for the first two weeks in the gym and going in early to do multiple things to try to get himself back, to have a chance to play. We got a special brace for him. Just trying to do everything we can.

"Coach Barnes, communicating with him the whole time, he said, 'I'm going to treat him like my own son. If he can't protect himself, he hurts the team.' How hard Pate worked, as hard as it was to spin that stationary bike those first few days and to build that up but not quite have it strong enough to get in."

Pate still dressed in full uniform throughout the playoffs, first in a 33-14 win over Chapin and a 19-7 victory over Cane Bay. Then came a rematch with Summerville, whom Sumter High beat 16-0 in the regular season. Offense was hard to come by for both teams, and the Gamecocks saw their season end in a 7-0 defeat.

"It was definitely tough just to watch and then just watch it slowly just die down," Pate said. "It was tough for everybody. It was a tough pill to swallow for many days, many weeks for the whole program. We were just that close."

As the clock ticked away on the loss, Pate kept hoping Barnes would call his name, but that was never in the cards. Barnes said Pate mostly dressed to keep the other team guessing.

"If Pate could've played, he would've played," Barnes said.

Pate just felt hopeless not being able to impact the game at all.

"I was kind of hoping so," Pate said of wanting to get in the game. "I couldn't really stand standing on the sidelines, but I was really hoping that I would. Even just to hand it off, not to really just throw it, but just to be out there with everybody else."

EVEN MORE PASSIONATE

The injury taught Pate that he needed to appreciate every minute he had on the football field, so he doubled down his efforts to improve.

"I worked the hardest I ever have just to get back in playoffs to try to see if I can play," Pate said. "Then throughout the summer and spring the whole program has worked really, really hard as a whole just to be the best that we always have been. I worked my tail off through summer, the winter and the spring, just like everybody else, just to be able to play one last season down here and shoot for the best."

Barnes has seen that fire in Pate this offseason. More importantly, he's seen the results from all of the hard work.

"That (injury) was not good for us last year but, for him, I think he's always loved the game but he missed that part and wanted to play bad, and it's given him a little bit of an edge preparing for this year," Barnes said. "He grew a lot last year. He's a great leader; he mechanically is very good at quarterback, he's got good arm strength. The most important thing about him, though, is his accuracy is off the charts.

"He's not going to miss somebody if he's open, and that's hard for a high school quarterback to do. He's as accurate as anybody I've ever coached. He's athletic, which is good, and he understands our offense."

When Pate isn't practicing with the Gamecocks, he's still incredibly busy. During the summer, he spent his morning at practice and afternoons working at his father's business, Merchant Ironworks. He also spent a lot of time going to camps across the state. David said attending camps became a big priority last summer.

"Last year, as a rising junior, we hit the camp circuit over the summer at Clemson, Western Carolina, The Citadel, Coastal Carolina. We did that to prepare for this summer," David said. "We wanted him to experience that and see other players from not just your state, but around the country. It was fun to go.

"He and Zyeir (Gamble, the former SHS safety who now plays at Appalachian State), we went last year to the Clemson camp just for the experience because you get to see some incredible talent there. It's a little humbling like, 'OK, maybe I do need to work a little harder to get to be like that guy.' This summer, I told him as we were traveling to some of the camps, 'It's show time. It's time to show up and show them what you can do.' Last year built onto this summer, and he's been able to build some relationships with some coaches, and he could see what it takes to play on the next level."

Pate wants to play college football somewhere, but that's still a long way away. He has one other major goal to check off first.

"My first goal is, obviously, win a state championship here this coming year," Pate said. "And then the next goal will be able to play at the next level."

MORE THAN A TITLE

Of course, Pate can't go anywhere in Sumter without hearing the same old question, "What's it like having your dad be the mayor?"

It's a relentless question that he's mostly learned to block out. He's not overly concerned about his dad's job.

"We don't let that title bother us," Pate said. "He's the same person when we're throwing the ball in the backyard to when he's doing his job. He's one-faced, and he does a great job with everything."

That's a lesson David has always tried to impart on his children. Now that Pate is the starting quarterback at Sumter High, he's getting firsthand experience at being that same genuine person on and off the field.

"It's not an act, whether you're the mayor or the quarterback, because people see through that very quickly," David said. "I've heard the saying, 'Football players know football players.' They know who can play and who can't play really fast. They know if someone is out there if they don't belong, that's exposed quickly if you can't play. It's the same thing in my role as mayor. I'd get exposed if I just showed up to a meeting twice a month and that's it.

"We just do our jobs. My job is as mayor and Merchant Ironworks and a dad, and his job is school and football. That's the kind of work ethic that we want to instill in our children. If you do your work every day to the highest level, the results take care of themselves."

That title, as the constant questions suggest, does still come with expectations from the outside. Someone will always ask if he's the starting quarterback because his dad is the mayor. Barnes shuts that notion down very quickly.

"His father is a very important person in our community, but that's not why he's the quarterback. He's the quarterback because he's the best quarterback," Barnes said. "Our players know that and have a ton of confidence in him. He's a winner, and whatever we need him to do to win, we feel confident he can do that."

Whatever outside pressure might be on Pate, David isn't concerned.

"He puts the pressure on himself. He wants to win as bad as anybody. They're building on last season. We all felt like the season ended a few weeks too short last year, so there's some unfinished business," David said. "That's the pressure that he sees and feels. He doesn't show it openly.

"We nicknamed him back in the day in little league baseball 'Ice Man' because he'd be a pitcher on the mound being 3-0 with the bases loaded, and he'd have the same expression all the time. He's always been able to handle pressure, and maybe that's what's helped him be successful at quarterback."

If that pressure ever starts to build up, Pate is also willing to turn to his dad for guidance.

"It was the greatest thing in the world. I couldn't ask for anyone better to do it," Pate said of the support from his father. "Even through the ups and downs, we'll sit down and talk past midnight after a game, even after the away game, just what happened, what I saw, what went right and what went wrong. He was there step by step through the injury. He's been very, very supportive. He's poured a lot into me, and I'm very grateful for it."

LEADERSHIP

There's one aspect of David's job that translates perfectly to playing quarterback: leadership.

Pate appreciates having a great example of how to lead under the same roof.

"You're the leader of the offense. You've gotta be able to make sure everybody's doing their job," Pate said. "I find it very fun because I've grown very close to a lot of people doing that, and I find great joy meeting those people, leading those people. Like the O-line, like they do great jobs, they do the hard work for everybody else. Not very many people give them praise, but some people have to, and that's one thing that I've had to learn how to do through this position.

"He shows me how to do that, how to be helpful and how to lead other people through the quarterback position, even though it's not quite the same. He's very good at teaching those types of things."

David taught Pate about the importance of appreciating your offensive line very early in his career as a quarterback.

"Back in middle school ball, the linemen had to run extra, and I challenged him," David said. "I said, 'You have to run extra with your offensive linemen, be a leader, be supportive because those guys take care of you. Run extra with them and earn respect as you develop into a leader.' Little tips like that. He's done that and continues to do that."