Trey
Sermon.
Trey
Sermon.
Ohio State· 6'0"· 215 lb· 4.57s 40
"An Ohio State transfer from Oklahoma with plus vision and physical running style but average burst — a Round-3 rotational RB projection."Pre-draft read
This early-down back is built for wide-zone and gap runs. His contact balance, not speed or elusiveness, separates him. With real thigh mass, he finishes runs pads-down, breaking arm tackles and moving piles between the tackles. His vision is patient and scheme-appropriate, pressing landmarks and letting blocks develop, then planting off his outside foot. His hands are more reliable than college receiving numbers indicate.
Limitations are athletic and situational: change of direction on cutbacks is average. He doesn't consistently make the first unblocked defender miss in space, and his long speed shows pursuit, not breakaway gear. He is best on 10-18 carry days in a zone-heavy scheme and struggles on obvious passing downs where pass protection is inconsistent.
The ideal philosophical fit for Trey Sermon is an outside-zone heavy run game, particularly a wide-zone scheme designed to create horizontal flow and cutback lanes.
Rotational RB2/RB3 and short-yardage specialist Year 1; ceiling is a high-volume complementary back in a wide zone blocking scheme.
Spread-option RPO schemes that ask for significant receiving production, or power-gap schemes that require jump-cut elusiveness from the running back.
Sermon's one-cut vision and downhill running style align perfectly with wide-zone concepts, maximizing his contact balance and finishing ability.
Barreling Buckeye: Trey Sermon Breaks OSU Single-Game Rushing Record — 2020 Highlights
Full BTN cut-up of Sermon's 331-yard performance vs Northwestern in the 2020 Big Ten Championship, the defining game of his college career.
Welcome to Columbus — Ohio State RB Trey Sermon Highlights
Ohio State highlight package featuring contact balance, one-cut zone reps, and short-yardage finish through the 2020 season.
Trey Sermon 53-yard touchdown vs Oklahoma State (Bedlam)
Sermon's Bedlam touchdown at Oklahoma showing long-speed pursuit and vision at the Big 12 level pre-transfer.
Trey Sermon projected as a rotational RB2/RB3 with short-yardage value. Evaluators saw a one-cut, downhill back with a legitimate NFL early-down body, possessing a functional long speed of 4.57 forty. His best fit was considered a zone-heavy scheme where he could build downhill momentum and finish runs through contact.
He entered the draft as a Big Ten record-setter with a Big 12 committee résumé. His 2020 Ohio State tape included a 331-yard performance against Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship and 193 yards against Clemson in the CFP semifinal, representing the most dominant late-season stretch of any running back in his class. This production came after averaging just 113 carries over three seasons at Oklahoma.
Evaluation risks included his limited career workload of 455 carries, average change of direction on cutbacks, and only pedestrian receiving production. Consensus boards placed him in a wide 60–120 range. The San Francisco 49ers selected him with the 88th pick, valuing his scheme fit as a downhill back.
- 01
Contact balance and finish
Runs through arm tackles and finishes with his pads down; the Big Ten Championship tape showed him stacking broken-tackle carries against a nine-man box on volume.
- 02
One-cut vision in wide zone
Presses landmarks patiently and plants off his outside foot on schedule; his OSU cut-ups look like a Shanahan-tree instructional reel for the front-side outside-zone read.
- 03
Size/speed threshold
6'0", 215 pounds and a verified 4.57 forty is a legitimate NFL early-down body with functional long speed for the position, not a plodder profile that gets scheme-locked.
- 04
Short-yardage projection
26 career rushing touchdowns and reliable pad level make him a plus goal-line and 3rd-and-1 option, a role that translates cleanly from Big 12 committee usage to an NFL rotation.
- 05
Track record on big stages
331 yards vs Northwestern and 193 vs Clemson in back-to-back games; the volume and quality of that late-season sample was as good as any RB in the class.
- 01
Change of direction
Average lateral agility on cutbacks and jump cuts; the tape rarely shows him escaping a shooting linebacker in the hole with a second move.
- 02
Career workload sample
Only 455 college carries across four seasons in a Big 12 committee, a thin résumé of true workhorse volume for a back whose projection was built on downhill wear-and-tear value.
- 03
Elusiveness in space
Does not consistently make the first unblocked defender miss at the second level; long runs on his college tape were more angles-and-anticipation than tackle-breaking suddenness.
- 04
Receiving production and separation
48 career receptions with a low-air-yards profile; he can catch check-downs but does not separate as a route runner.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.57sp50
- Vertical
- 37inp50
- Broad jump
- 125inp50
- Three-cone
- 6.83sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.28sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Att | Yds | TD | Rec | RecYds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Oklahoma | 14 | 121 | 744 | 5 | 16 | 139 |
| 2018 | Oklahoma | 14 | 164 | 947 | 13 | 12 | 177 |
| 2019 | Oklahoma | 9 | 54 | 385 | 4 | 8 | 71 |
| 2020 | Ohio State | 8 | 116 | 870 | 4 | 12 | 95 |
| Career | — | 45 | 455 | 2946 | 26 | 48 | 482 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Reliable rotational back with real short-yardage value, willing pass protection, and a long NFL shelf life in a limited role — the fair middle outcome for Sermon's traits and usage pattern, and closely aligned with his 2023–24 Colts arc.
Downhill, one-cut back whose contact balance and short-area vision outlasted a modest athletic profile; the realistic ceiling if Sermon had stayed healthy and inherited a workhorse role in a wide-zone offense.
Between-the-tackles power back who never earned meaningful separate-from-the-committee usage despite scheme fit; captures the downside where the one-cut vision plays but the explosive-play ceiling never arrives.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Bust. Never took over the 49ers RB1 role, 41 carries as a rookie, cut before Year 2. Journeyman RB2/3 with Philadelphia, Indianapolis, out of the league by 2024. Correct rotational grade; the SF fit did not work.
**Pre-draft context.** Trey Sermon entered the 2021 draft with the résumé and body of a workhorse but the touch count of a committee back. After three seasons at Oklahoma splitting reps with Rodney Anderson, Kennedy Brooks, and Jalen Hurts (1,206 rushing attempts distributed across a rotation), he transferred to Ohio State for 2020 and delivered one of the most memorable single-game college performances of that year — 331 rushing yards against Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship, breaking the OSU single-game record — before running for 193 more in the Sugar Bowl semifinal against Clemson. Measurables backed up the tape: 6'0", 215 pounds, 4.57 forty, and a compact, downhill frame. Consensus boards had him in a wide day-two range as an early-down thumper with real receiving upside from Big 12 spread reps, and his late-season Buckeye tape pushed him into the top-100 conversation.
**NFL fit — San Francisco 49ers.** San Francisco used the #88 pick on Sermon as their heir apparent behind Raheem Mostert and a rotating cast of injured backs in Kyle Shanahan's wide-zone offense — a scheme built for one-cut, tempo, downhill runners, exactly Sermon's college identity. The fit was clean on paper. The execution never came. He fractured his collarbone in his first NFL touch, missed most of his rookie season, and got buried when Elijah Mitchell, Jeff Wilson Jr., and eventually Christian McCaffrey took over the room. Nine games, 41 carries, 167 yards over 2021–22, then waived at 2022 final cuts.
**Retrospective.** Sermon has since carved out a durable NFL role as a rotational RB2/RB3 rather than the workhorse he flashed at Ohio State. Philadelphia claimed him off waivers in 2022, and he has since bounced through Indianapolis (2023–24) and now Pittsburgh (2025), with his best NFL season coming in Indianapolis in 2024 (56 carries, 159 yards, 2 TDs across 17 games as a change-up back to Jonathan Taylor). The one-cut vision and contact balance still show up in short bursts, but the change-of-direction and separation limits that were flagged pre-draft have kept him firmly in a backup role. In hindsight #88 was a defensible slot for the traits and the scheme fit; the outcome — long career, no meaningful starter usage — is the median downside of a college committee back leaning on one great month of tape.