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The senior wide receiver/defensive back is one of several McCaskey players taking part in new head coach Dave Given's inaugural Red Tornado football camps being held every morning this week on the practice field at McCaskey East High School.
"Everyone's excited about this season," Mercado said. "I like our new coach. Everything seems to be going good."
Things have not been so good at McCaskey for some time. The Red Tornado went winless last season, and former head coach Scott Feldman resigned, citing lack of cooperation by the administration to help turn around a struggling program.
Enter Given, an Illinois native who grew up in York and thus knows the area.
"When I was in third grade I wrestled in a tournament in Lancaster, might have even been at McCaskey," said Given, who most recently was coaching in Arizona and operating his own fitness training business.
Given said he has heard the stories relating to the Red Tornado's demise as a football power.
He's heard it, and he's not buying it.
"A bunch of people have come up to me wanting to tell me all the negatives about the program," he said. "You know, I don't think any kid wants to be a failure. Kids want to be successful.
"I believe if you treat people with respect, you get respect in return. I know we have athletes here, but that's not the issue. The issue is getting the kids to come out.
"We need to get them out, we need to keep them eligible (academically) and we need to coach them up."
Given intends to achieve the latter by having his players engage in summer workout programs, and by emphasizing a greater need for weight lifting.
Those are tangible methods of improvement. Among the intangibles being planned by he and his staff — Damien Henry, Rob Monzon and Dave Tinkus — is to have their players wear dress shirts, ties and blazers on game days.
"Our attitude will be, 'We're going to work, so we're putting on our business suits'" Given said. "That's what classy programs do. Everything will be first class. And if the kids feel first class, they'll act accordingly. We're trying to change an attitude here."
But the real key to any successful program, Given knows, is getting kids interested in the program.
And that's why the aim of the football camps is to introduce Red Tornado football to McCaskey's four middle schools, each of which serves as a feeder to the high school.
Kids attend the camp for free and Given estimates as many as 65 have shown up for the morning drills that run from 8 to 11 every day.
"Football's a fun game," Given said, "and what we want to do is introduce these kids to football.
"We're very pleased with the turnout. We had no idea of expectations since we had never done it before. Some of the kids who came out on the first day came back and brought their friends with them on the second and third days."
The camps are about more than just learning how to block and tackle, however.
Given, his staff and players like Mercado and fellow senior Nate Shaeffer are putting in their time for free, each with an eye toward giving back to the community.
"Hopefully, the kids understand there is something bigger out there than football," Given said. "Community service is important."
Mercado gets it.
"This is a good idea," he said of the morning camp.
As he spoke with a visitor, a group of kids piled past and into a waiting school bus.
"I think we're going to have a good program," Mercado said.
The way Given figures, he's already ahead of the game. Yes, he still needs to find a house in the area, still needs to make the move from Arizona and acclimate himself to new surroundings.
But those are relatively small issues when measured against the heart-wrenching illness his wife Chris recently had to endure.
Stricken with severe headaches, she went for an MRI and was told to go to the emergency room right away. While there, the aneurysm, in Given's words, "popped."
"She had bleeding on the brain," he said.
She's since undergone physical therapy, and now, Given said, has a 100 percent chance of recovery.
"Miraculous," he said.
Compared to the ordeal of almost losing a spouse, rebuilding a football program doesn't seem so daunting.
In fact, it seems a Given.
E-mail: egruver@lnpnews.com
