I’m sorry, because I don’t have direct experience with that scholarship or that school.
But in general merit aid is used to persuade kids a school really wants, to pick it, over other schools. By applying ED the school has zero need to use merit aid – it already knows the kid is coming!
However, the coach may know more. And also, some schools give financial pre-reads, and in some cases are able to give families an estimate of any merit aid the student would receive.