> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Prive doing his best to help Merrimack football grow - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/prive-doing-his-best-to-help-merrimack-football-grow/ - Published: 2011-10-11T06:28:55.000Z - Updated: 2011-10-11T06:28:55.000Z - Description: Sam Prive decided he wasn’t going to play football. Prive’s older brother, Joe, had been a standout defensive back at Merrimack High School during his playing career and Sam, then an eighth-grader, knew he was going to have some big football cleats to fill. - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division II, Fall Sports, football, Merrimack, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/merrbgfball0924-m72-11.jpg "MerrBgfball0924 M72-1") Sam Prive decided he wasn’t going to play football. Prive’s older brother, Joe, had been a standout defensive back at Merrimack High School during his playing career and Sam, then an eighth-grader, knew he was going to have some big football cleats to fill. But those cleats would have only been figurative. “Sam was afraid he wasn’t going to live up to his brother,” Merrimack coach Joe Battista said. “(Joe Prive) was a really tough football player, but he played a different position.” One day, while Sam Prive was in eighth grade, he went down to Battista’s office at Merrimack Middle School. There he sat with the coach and expressed his concerns, and the more Prive talked, the more emotional he became. “He was in my office, tears coming down, saying he was going to give up football,” Battisa said. “I remember saying, look at yourself. You’ve got big feet and a big head. You’re not going to be a defensive back. You’re going to get in the weight room and end up being an offensive tackle and a nose guard.” Growing up, Prive looked up to his brother and wanted to emulate him. In his mind, he felt that’s what everyone else not only wanted, but expected of him. “My brother always played and looking at him, I wanted to play so bad,” Prive said. “The first few years, I never liked football. (Battista) called me into his office. I came in there and I was tearing up and I was nervous that I wasn’t going to live up to expectations.” Battista told the younger Prive something, and both are grateful he listened. “You don’t have to live up to your brother,” Battista remembers saying. “I didn’t coach your brother. I have no expectations for you. I remember that. He wiped the tears off and he said he’d give it a try. I know he’s glad that he did, and so am I.” With the pressure gone, Prive, a linemen on both sides of the ball, did everything he could to improve his freshman year. He listened, he learned and he hit the weight room, and did such a good job at it, he became a two-way starter on the line as a sophomore. Now, as a three-year starter, Prive is the one grooming younger guys to follow in his shoes. “Playing that freshman year was the best thing I’ve done,” he said. “I’ve told kids that. If you’re not going to play (as a freshman), you’re not going to come back. It’s just not going to happen no matter how much you think it will happen.” The Tomahawks have needed that guidance this season, as both starters on the left side of the line – Corey Little and Colan Healey –are sophomores. Both have been appreciative of what guidance Prive has given them. “He’s a great captain and a role model,” Healey said. “He’s always there to motivate us. If you ever have a question, he’s always one to rely on. He’s just an all-around great guy.” Battista has known that for some time, and this year, he’s enjoyed having Prive at practice to occasionally serve as an extra coach. “It’s like having another coach at the back of the line,” Battista said. “He goes to the back of the line after they do a drill and he’s there, spitting out of his mouth the same things I’m telling them up front. I’ve even gotten to the point where I’ll have him keep his eyes on half the line and I’ll keep mine on the other half. He’s coaching them up just like I am.” That leadership is why Prive’s teammates voted him a captain this season. While that was something he’d hoped to achieve this year, Prive is glad to be a part of a group that he feels is the hardest working line on which he’s played. “They’re all stepping up and exceeding expectations,” said Prive, who was the only returning starter on the line. “I keep telling them, don’t miss any sets in the weight room. I’m guilty of that sometimes, but they’re working as hard as they can to be outstanding.” Prive has worked hard enough that coaches at the next level have taken notice. So far, he’s heard from a handful of Division III schools, like Endicott, Curry and Plymouth. Some of the schools are recruiting him as an offensive lineman, which is the side of the ball he’d prefer to play. “Coaches are starting to notice,” Battista said. “We are starting to move college players out of here. That’s huge. It’s a good feeling.” No one will ever mistake Prive for his brother on the football field, but these days, that’s quite all right, for him and for his teammates. And now it’s up to others to worry about filling this Prive’s cleats. “Whenever we’re down in games, he rallies us and pushes us through it,” Healey said. “In the weight room, I’m looking to get up (to where Prive is). I can only think that if I can get a little bigger, I can be more like Sam.”