Family Matters: Catching up with DL/EDGE Brian Guerrero on LIU Visit

We had the chance to catch up with 2026 LIU Sharks target DE/EDGE Brian Guerrero of Baltimore, MD, currently at Mergenthaler HS. Guerrero is a player that schools across the NEC are competing for. He’s got offers from Robert Morris, Central Connecticut State, New Haven, and most recently the Long Island Sharks. With all of that notice he’s taken in across the Northeast, it’s almost surprising that we’re just checking in with him after a visit now.

Guerrero had a chance to see the Sharks in action on October 25th, which ended up being a win over New Haven and a bit of a resurgence from the Sharks. They entered conference play injury-ridden, limping through the first two contests (both losses) before they got healthy.

Now that they have, they’ve scored consecutive wins over Robert Morris and New Haven, with the latter serving as a second outstanding game for Luca Stanzani, who was the clear cut NEC Offensive Player of the Week following the game. It was this team that Guererro had the luxury of seeing in person.

Brookville, NY was a great place to be on Saturday. The win was big and the fans were alive for the Sharks. The fans were also big for Guerrero. They were welcoming to the Sharks target, making sure he knew that they’d welcome him back to their campus in a Sharks uniform next season. The atmosphere was definitely a positive part of the experience. This was a game day visit, not the longer and more structured official visit, so the time was a little more abbreviated with a chance to see the field, campus, and gameday experience. You do it as a player of interest with some special access to the coaches, but it’s not the inside experience that you get if you stay for a weekend.

But that field access for pre-game is always a special thing. It really doesn’t matter how many football fields you’ve been on or if you’re actively playing on another one- or routinely covering what happens on one. The opportunity to talk with Coach Cooper was also appreciated for Guerrero, who has built good relationships with the LIU coaching staff. In particular, he’s grown close with EDGE coach and recruiting coordinator Devin Merritt. “I go out of my way to call him. It’s not like I’m just a player. He sees me as a person and I see him as a person,” Guerrero told NEC Blitz.

There’s also a pretty interesting family connection that you might not have guessed judging by Guerrero’s current location in Baltimore. It isn’t the biggest factor in his recruiting, but it’s definitely something that has always made him familiar with Long Island. Familiarity isn’t everything in recruiting, but it’s never hurt, either.

Guerrero’s mother was a basketball player at LIU prior to the athletic department merger. As you’d guess, the opportunity to follow in her footsteps and keep Long Island in the family is something he’s definitely thought about. “LIU has been a school I’ve had in mind. It would be great to play for Long Island like my mom did, except on the football field instead of basketball.”

As of right now, Guerrero’s recruitment is still 100% open. But with all of those NEC offers on the table and his own high opinion of quality of ball being played in the league, we’re hopeful that we’ll be seeing him around on a campus near you next season.