When Sarratt ‘Gets the Rock,’ Good Things Happen
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Practice is over, but catching footballs is not. Elijah Sarratt still grinds as long shadows blanket Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium. Passes are thrown from midfield and Sarratt works on over-the-shoulder catches in the back of the end zone -- again and again and again.
Greatness comes to those who push, who aren’t satisfied, who understand little things matter, doing extra matters.
The first conference game looms Saturday night against No. 9/8 Illinois (3-0) and Sarratt is priming for a huge role. The 6-foot-2, 213-pound veteran receiver sets an offensive tone for the No. 19/17 Hoosiers (3-0) and no one appreciates it more than defensive lineman Mikail Kamara, who played with Sarratt at James Madison before joining him at IU.
“It’s exciting to have someone like that,” Kamara says from the Don Croftcheck Team Room. “We’re going to get touchdowns with him. It’s fun to have someone execute the way that he does. It’s also good to have someone who leads the way he does. He’s vocal. He’s gotten a lot more vocal over the course of his career. It raises the level of everyone around him.”
Head coach Curt Cignetti saw it when recruiting Sarratt out of Saint Francis of Pennsylvania and then coaching Sarratt at James Madison. He still sees it.
“He’s a very competitive guy. He’s a guy you can trust. He’s really good at making contested catches. He’s smart. He loves football.”
And so Sarratt works.
Sarratt isn’t greedy. Yes, like every elite receiver, he wants the ball, he wants the opportunity to get the ball, but in Indiana’s diverse passing attack, with game-breaking receiving options all over the field, the Hoosier veteran understands sharing is paramount.
“We all want to catch every pass,” Sarratt says, “but we understand that the ball has to be spread around. None of us are selfish. We all want to win.”
And so the Hoosiers have, winning 14-of-16 games under Cignetti.
Still …
“The more targets I get, the more I get in rhythm,” Sarratt says.
He smiles.
“I wish I could get 30 targets a game. I love getting that rock.”
For good reason -- big things happen when Sarratt gets it. That could be a difference-maker Saturday night in a game with major national implications.
Against Kennesaw State, Sarratt caught nine passes from 13 targets for 97 yards and three touchdowns. He has a team-leading 15 catches for 164 yards. He’s caught at least one pass in all 41 games of his college career, the nation’s longest receiving streak.
As far as those three TD catches, Sarratt says the Hoosiers worked on those plays all week.
“We were hoping they’d give us the looks we wanted, and they did. It was executing from there. The quarterback put it in a perfect spot for me. I was able to catch it and get in the end zone.”
This is nothing new for a guy who is on the preseason watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, which goes annually to the nation’s top receiver.
Hoosier quarterback Fernando Mendoza praises Sarratt’s NFL ability. Running back Roman Hemby says Sarratt makes the plays everyone expects him to make, as well as the spectacular ones.
In IU’s deep receiving room, the same is true of veterans such as Omar Cooper Jr. (who caught four touchdown passes against Indiana State), E.J. Williams Jr., Jonathan Brady, and more.
Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan’s balanced attack -- the Hoosiers are averaging 52.0 points per game -- seeks to ensure talent is fully utilized.
“A lot of the work is put in the film room,” Sarratt says. “Coach Shanahan does a great job of putting us in the correct spots and giving us a game plan and allowing us to execute.”
Sarratt has had a different starting quarterback in each of his four college seasons. This year, it’s Mendoza, a transfer from the University of California. Sarratt says the adjustments have gotten easier.
“It’s a process. We continue to get better as days go by. Every day it grows. We’re talking to each other about what he likes and what I like. It’s building up those reps.”
Sarratt’s self-given “Waffle House” nickname comes from the implication he’s always open. He started it last season, highlighted by a seven-catch-for-135-yard effort against Northwestern.
Nicknames are great for sound bites and NIL opportunities -- there is an Elijah Sarratt Waffle House Black t-shirt -- but they won’t help against top Big Ten defensive backs, and Illinois has its share.
The Illini return 18 starters from last season’s Cheez-It Citrus Bowl win over South Carolina. That’s tied with Michigan for the most returning starters in the nation. Four of those are defensive backs -- Kaleb Patterson, Matthew Bailey, Miles Scott and Xavier Scott (All-Big Ten last year, a preseason All-American this season).
The Illini have one interception, seven pass deflections and have forced four fumbles. They allow 193.7 passing yards a game. IU averages 284.
Defenses once didn’t understand the receiving threat Sarratt represented. They figured one-on-one man coverage was enough.
They were wrong.
As a true college freshman at Saint Francis of Pennsylvania, Sarratt caught 42 passes for 700 yards and earned FCS freshman All-America honors.
The next season he transferred to James Madison and caught 82 passes for 1,191 yards and eight touchdowns.
Last year as a Hoosier, he caught 53 passes for 957 yards and eight touchdowns and earned All-Big Ten recognition. He made a first down or a touchdown on 43 of those 53 catches.
The result -- one-on-one man coverage against him is rare.
“In the beginning of my career,” Sarratt says, “it was like, ‘Oh, you will be one-on-one, and we’ll see if you do good.’ Now I see more of a cloud cover.”
In other words, teams cover Sarratt with two players. A cornerback will take him short with a safety around if Sarratt goes deep.
“It's a blessing that it's happening,” he says. “It means I am doing something right. I just have to find ways on how to attack that and watch film and see what they are doing differently.”
Occasionally, the safety will start over the top of Sarratt, then move back to the middle of the field, thus leaving a one-on-one opportunity. Film work helps ensure that Sarratt and Mendoza take advantage.
“It’s knowing what defenses they like to run and then putting me in different spots and running certain routes to attack that coverage,” Sarratt says.
His contributions including blocking, crucial in IU’s receivers-have-to-block offensive approach.
“From my freshman year to now, I’ve made a tremendous jump,” Sarratt says about his blocking. “My technique in being lower than the other guys is better. I have to be low on my blocks and shoot my hands.
“I still have a lot of work to do. Coach Shanahan is on us every day about blocking. We see it in the film room. It gets a little gritty in there sometimes, but I’m grateful for it. It makes us better as a group.”
Sarratt is all about getting better. He works, you see, even when practice is over and shadows stretch long over Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.
Come Saturday night, that could make all the difference.