Recent Play
Sermon is on one of College Football’s most unprecedented tears over the past three games. Despite playing highly ranked Clemson, Northwestern, and a pretty bad Michigan State team, Sermon compiled 636 yards rushing and four scores. Add in his reception yards and Sermon is close to totaling 700 total yards over three games. Considering two of those teams ranked inside the top 15 makes this feat even more impressive.
While his past three games have clearly been the best of his career, it doesn’t mean that he was dormant throughout his college career until now. While never as dominant as he has been, Sermon has always been a quality committee back. Both Ohio State and Oklahoma have used him well in a rotation. While it is a limited sample size, his recent play is more likely due to him being given the opportunity to finally be a bell cow.
Finally, if you have watched Sermon play recently, his style of running is extremely physical. He is consistently lowering his shoulder and throwing guys out of his way in order to get more yards. That power style running is exactly what the Steelers look for in their starting running back. It looks like he has some burst as well on tape, meaning that he could be more than that typical plodding power back like Benny Snell. His tape, especially the recent tape, makes him seem like a great fit with the Steelers.
He had a disappointing championship game as he only got to log one carry before leaving the game injured. This put an end to his impressive play over the past few weeks, but it doesn’t mean he should just be written off. As long as his injury isn’t serious, he should still be a realistic target for the Steelers in the draft.