It was a big night for former (albeit briefly) Arizona running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt in the East West Shrine Bowl on Thursday as the senior took home the offensive MVP award in the game after scoring two touchdowns and guiding the East to a 25-0 victory. Croskey-Merritt, who had his season cut short because of eligibility issues, had his moment to showcase his abilities in front of NFL personnel throughout the week.
He was one of the top practice players throughout the several days in Dallas, and that carried over into Thursday's game. He got things started with a big 27-yard run to set up his first touchdown that eventually came on a 6-yard score for the former New Mexico standout.
Croskey-Merritt then followed that up with a 1-yard rushing score up the middle later in the second quarter. The Montgomery, Alabama native ended the night with 97 yards rushing on 11 carries and two touchdowns.
The one-time Alabama State standout shined in his one performance at Arizona against his former team in the 2024 season as he rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on just 13 carries against the Lobos in the season opener.
NFL.com's Chad Reuter named Croskey-Merritt as one of his five standouts from the game and said the 5-foot-10 running back had "an eye-opening effort for teams in the market to pick a running back on Day 3 of the draft."
