Ohio State running back Trey Sermon became the fifth Buckeye selected when he was taken in the third round, No. 88 overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Sermon came to the Buckeyes as a transfer over from Oklahoma with 2,076 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns. In his lone season at Ohio State, Sermon rushed 116 times for 870 yards and four scores, good for 7.5 yards per carry.
Of those 870 yards, 331 of them came in the Big Ten Championship Game against Northwestern, a single-game program record, surpassing Eddie George’s 314 yards.
In his annual draft guide, Dane Brugler of The Athletic sees Sermon as a running back that would fir more as an outside runner thanks to his traits as a runner.
With his vision and agility, Sermon is skilled at settling his feet, dropping his hips to center his gravity and making coordinated jump cuts — all in a fluid motion to force missed tackles. He tends to be a long-striding, upright runner in space, which will make it tough for him to create chunk plays versus speedy NFL defenders. Overall, Sermon is inconsistent as an inside power runner, but his combination of vision, balance and cutting skills are intriguing traits for an outside zone scheme. He projects as a quality rotational back with third-down value.
Via Dane Brugler of The Athletic
Sermon is immediately the top dog for the 49ers at halfback and will pair up with rookie quarterback and No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance.
