Trey Sermon exclusive: Superpowers, that famous smile, his Ohio State transfer and
Where next for Trey Sermon? (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
“If you could have a super power, what would it be?”
Gets you thinking, doesn’t it? No matter what age you are, it’s a question you’re inclined to examine in detail. The ability to fly could take you anywhere in the world, and theoretically so could invisibility as far as sneaking onto a plane is concerned; super speed is always a fun option, super strength is a little mundane and telekinesis could certainly be helpful for retrieving the TV remote while sitting on the couch.
The question was put to Trey Sermon during an interview with an NFL team. His answer?
“I told them I wish I could teleport, I hate traffic and I wish I could just pop up at a place,” he tells Sky Sports.
It’s an intriguing answer, glossed by the brilliantly-ordinary reality of bypassing traffic being Sermon’s primary reasoning ahead of teleporting to his dream holiday destination, a practice he is running late for or, you know, the end zone. Boy, wouldn’t that make football easier?
It’s also an answer accompanied by a flicker of an all-too-familiar smirk, a smirk we’ve seen before, the viral smirk Sermon gifted to television cameras during Ohio State’s playoff semi-final victory over Clemson.
The running back breaks into a ‘this again?’ chuckle as he remembers his phone buzzing with social media notifications and text messages throughout the night after the game.
“Everybody was laughing at me,” he says. “The camera caught me a couple of times. They caught me when I was putting confetti in my pants after the game but it was funny, a lot of my friends gave me jokes about it.”
“I could barely walk”
The moment that prompted the grin arrived in the third quarter as Sermon waited on a review that eventually overturned a long touchdown run due to his elbow being ruled down, the cheeky look on his face reflective of a man who knew what decision should be coming but wasn’t sure whether he had somehow got away with one.
He can now look back and smile about the smile that was plastered across the internet, for it embodies the sense of joy and relief generated by a memorable individual effort down the stretch in 2020. Though called back, the play in question did actually amount to a key first down amid a drive ending with Chris Olave reeling in a 56-yard touchdown to earn the Buckeyes a 42-21 lead.
Sermon finished the game with 193 yards rushing and a touchdown from 31 carries, contributing towards season totals of 870 yards on the ground for four scores from 116 carries in eight games following his transfer from Oklahoma.
Sermon shrugs off Clemson safety Lannden Zanders during the Sugar Bowl. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
“I knew I was going to have a big game just for how well I prepared,” he said. “During the whole game I was just anticipating, I was able to play fast and I was definitely expecting to have a big game.”
This was Sermon venting any frustration pent up over a gruelling 2019 campaign, and doing so with a smile.
“Just being able to make the transition and develop a relationship with my new teammates, it was awesome, even though it was during COVID where everything was a lot different,” he said.
“The season was great, I learned a lot from the guys I played with and definitely had a tonne of fun making it to the National Championship. I wish things would have worked out a little different but overall it was a great experience.”
His Clemson demolition job had been preceded by Ohio State’s win over Northwestern in the Big 10 Championship game, during which Sermon had jinked and hurdled and slalomed his way to a school-record 331 rushing yards for two touchdowns from 29 carries.
“Whatever it took I was just trying to take care of business and by the end of the game my legs were so sore I could barely walk,” he jokes. “I felt good just knowing we were holding up the trophy at the end.”
If only he could teleport…
Sermon hurdles over Northwestern defensive back A.J. Hampton during the Big Ten Championship game. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire)
Here he was reminding potential NFL suitors unequivocally that he was back to his best following the known series of setbacks, only for a dose of the latter to inflict another cruel twist.
Ohio State have possession to start the National Championship game against Alabama, the first play of which sees Justin Fields hand the ball off to his running back, who is instantly stuffed and tossed to the ground by three defenders. Oh boy.
One play in and Sermon’s night was over, the hit knocking him out of the game and to the hospital with a shoulder injury.
“It definitely did leave a sour taste, just knowing how well I prepared going into that game,” he said. “It was a whole reason why I transferred to Ohio State to win a National Championship so to get to that point and get hurt was tough for me but I know everything happens for a reason and I just tried to stay positive.
“It was devastating just walking back to the locker room, heading to the hospital, it was hard for me. Knowing I couldn’t be out there with my teammates just trying to win the biggest game of our lives.”
Sermon on his injury in the National Championship game
Five Mac Jones touchdown passes and two Najee Harris rushing scores later and Alabama were national champions having toppled the Sermon-less Buckeyes 52-24.
‘It was meant to be!’
Despite the latest sucker-punch, it would take a lot more to wipe the smile from Sermon’s face in the wake of him re-vitalising his Draft stock and, perhaps more importantly, visibly enjoying his football.
Sermon entered the transfer portal on the back of a 2019 season cut short with Oklahoma after just nine games due to a knee injury. The 22-year-old had been limited to 385 rushing yards for four touchdowns from 54 carries, his absence paving the way for Kennedy Brooks to take the lead out of the backfield.
He eventually landed with a running back-needy Ohio State outfit looking for reinforcements following the departure of now-Baltimore Ravens back J.K. Dobbins and with Master Teague III nursing an Achilles problem and Marcus Crowley still recovering from a knee injury.
Sermon thanks the Oklahoma crowd after a touchdown run against the South Dakota Coyotes in 2019. (Photo by David Stacy/Icon Sportswire)
“It was something I thought about over a period of time,” he said. “At the end of my junior year I had got hurt and I just felt like it was best for me to enter the transfer portal and I knew Ohio State would be a good fit for me.
“I already had a previous relationship with Justin (Fields) just because we had the same trainer, I played against him at high school so we’d worked with each other for a while. And Ohio State recruited me out of high school so I had that relationship with my running back coach and I just knew it would be a good fit.
“It was still hard to leave some of my brothers that I’ve known since my freshman year in college that I spent the last three and a half years with, it was hard for me just because I was so close with them but again they all supported me and they wanted what was best for me.”
A notion of familiarity was coincided by a notion of irony, Sermon’s first career college touchdown having notably come against Ohio State on his Oklahoma debut as a true freshman.
“I definitely thought about it,” he says. “As soon as I got there and talked to my running back coach he kind of brought it up and was like ‘man you did score your first TD…
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