You already know the names Travis Etienne, Najee Harris and Chuba Hubbard as the headliners in the 2021 running back class. However, one other name to keep in mind for the 2021 NFL Draft is Trey Sermon, who is set to enter the transfer portal this offseason after a tough 2019.
Rise and fall
Sermon, the soon-to-be-former Oklahoma running back, will look to reclaim the shine he had in 2018 when he led the team with 13 touchdown runs. That season included four games with over 100 rushing yards and one game with over 200 rushing yards against Texas Tech. However, there should have been some concern for Sermon in that 2018 season, as he also saw fewer than 10 carries in eight of Oklahoma’s 14 games.
Unfortunately for Sermon, those concerns came to fruition in 2019, as he fell out of favor and ended up working behind Kennedy Brooks. To make things worse, Sermon wound up suffering a knee injury in November that knocked him out for the rest of the season. He finished 2019 with just 385 yards on 54 carries and four rushing touchdowns.
Wherever he ends up transferring to, he’ll hope to reclaim the burst and speed he demonstrated in 2018 when he and Kyler Murray were helping the Sooners offense roll.
What Sermon brings to the table
Sermon has demonstrated an excellent ability to keep his feet moving at all times, even when it looked like he was going down. That ability, combined with having proven to be very difficult to bring down on first contact, means that Sermon does a great job of gaining extra yards.
He has only seen minor involvement in the passing game, averaging 12 catches per season through three years, but even in that small sample size, he demonstrated good hands. It will be interesting to see if his next team will feature him more in the passing game. What he did show in his time in Oklahoma is that he is a solid option when it comes to pass protection. That should at least mean he is on the field for passing down wherever he ends up in 2020.
His draft value has certainly dropped because of his injury and having been beaten out for most of 2019 by Brooks. As it stands, he is not going to be up there with the names mentioned at the top of this article. However, with a strong year at his new school, Sermon can begin regaining some of that value. It’s hard to imagine him being any more than a day three pick at the moment and teams will want to see more in the passing game from him.
There is a lot that Sermon needs to correct this season, but when you look at the tape of his better performances, the flashes are there. However, if he is to have any serious consideration as a potential draft pick during the first two days then he needs to show those flashes, but also demonstrate more consistency with his new team as well. There is a lot to prove in 2020, and finding the right fit with his transfer is going to be an important first step.