By: Bradley Myers
- 22 years old (DOB: 01/30/1999)
Height/Weight
- Ht: 6003
- Wt: 215
Other measurables:
- Hand 9 3/8
- Arm 33 3/8
- Wing 77 1/8
- 40-yd 4.60/4.57
- VJ 37.0
- BJ 10-5
- SS 4.28
- 3C 6.83
High School:
Trey Sermon was rated as a 4-Star prospect by both Rivals and 247Sports coming out of Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia. The 6’0 200lb Sermon was tabbed as high as the 9th ranked RB in the country by ESPN during his recruitment while still in high school. Sermon was a star on the gridiron and ran track during his tenure at Sprayberry High, which caught the eye of numerous D1 schools and ultimately resulted in over 20 scholarship offers. He bounced back from a cracked vertebra in his Junior season to rush for 1,227 yards, 16 touchdowns and added another 278 receiving yards through the air as a Senior. Despite his offer list including the likes of Alabama and home-state front runner Georgia, Sermon shocked the college football world when he committed to the University of Oklahoma in the spring of 2016.
College:
During his freshman season with the Sooners, he mainly split time with former OU standout Rodney Anderson. Despite playing second-fiddle, Sermon still managed over 800 yards from scrimmage and 7 touchdowns in a limited role.
After Anderson departed for the NFL, it finally looked like Sermon was going to be the focal point of the rushing attack for the Sooners. That is, until future No. 1 Overall NFL Draft Pick, Kyler Murray transferred to Norman Oklahoma.
Sermon spent much of his 2018 and 2019 seasons in a shared backfield with the likes of Kyler Murray, Kennedy Brooks, and NFL hopeful Rhamondre Stevenson. Despite the shared workload, Sermon still managed over 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 18 touchdowns across only 24 games, most of which were spent in a tandem with other players. In 2020, Sermon decided to enter the transfer portal due to the crowded depth chart and ultimately chose to transfer to Ohio State.
Sermon was mostly quiet and started off the early part of the 2020 season with average performances until he exploded against Northwestern in the Big 10 Championship Game. In that game, Sermon had an absurd 331 rushing yards on only 29 carries (11.4 YPC) and 2 touchdowns. He followed up that performance with another strong outing against Clemson where he again ran wild for 193 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately, Sermon was unable to carry his hot streak into the National Championship Game against Alabama, as he was injured on the first play of the game and never returned to the field.
Strengths:
- Size
- Agility
- Explosiveness
- Contact Balance
- Footwork
Weaknesses:
- Top-end Speed
- Production
- Receiving Ability
- Injury History
Team Visits:
- Pittsburgh Steelers
Overview:
Trey Sermon is a big, fast, and explosive back coming out of Ohio State. He is a capable pass-catcher but could stand to improve in that area. He shows great contact balance, has good wiggle for his size, and shows great footwork on his cuts and explodes through holes. He has questions about his top-end speed, has a questionable production history, and has some injury questions that date back to high school.
Despite his weaknesses, Sermon projects to be a good complimentary back as an early down banger in the NFL. He is big, fast, explosive, and agile, and could end up being a productive player if he can stay healthy and work on his pass-catching chops. If he ever refines his game, he could be a sneaky 3-down back at some point in his career. It is ironic that he has met with Pittsburgh as that is one of my favorite fits and landing spots for him.
Comp:
- Trey Sermon comps closely to Damien Harris. Both are remarkably similar athletically and both players had identical questions regarding their pass catching entering the league.
Sermon will most likely have identical draft capital as Harris but could end up going on day 2 due to his recency bias surrounding his sporadic, late-season productivity in addition to his stellar Pro Day. He will be a name to watch in the first few rounds of the NFL Draft.
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