The bumpy, winding road that built Indiana WR Elijah Sarratt

NBC Sports

13 hours ago

Curt Cignetti chats with Nicole Auerbach about how he plans to build upon Indiana's success last season, what he wants to see out of transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza and his expectations for the Hoosiers in 2025.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Elijah Sarratt didn't spend his summer packing boxes, changing zip codes or learning a new playbook. For the Indiana wide receiver, that alone was a relief.
'I don't like packaging up my stuff and leaving, but I found a great spot here,' Sarratt said. 'There's no other place I'd rather be than in Bloomington right now.'
It's a moment of stability that has been a long time coming. Sarratt's football journey — one of persistence, doubt and resilience — has taken him from small-town Virginia to the fringes of college football obscurity, through a carousel of schools, quarterbacks and coaching staffs.
Now, entering the 2025 season as an AP preseason All-American and Pro Football Focus' No. 4 ranked receiver in the nation, the Virginia native finally has a home.
Sarratt's path to the top wasn't straightforward. He started at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, Va., before transferring to St. Frances Academy in Baltimore ahead of his senior year. From there, he landed at Saint Francis (PA), a tiny FCS school with fewer than 2,500 undergraduates. The odds have always seemed stacked against him.
As a high school senior, he had no Division I offers. He sent out emails to junior college programs across the country, hoping for someone to take notice. Nobody replied. He would step into his coach's office each week hoping to hear some good news, but the responses from college coaches were blunt and discouraging.
'I don't know if you can play here. I don't know if you can do this or you can't do that,' Sarratt recalled of those conversations.
He was left questioning what his future in football would look like. Yet, he refused to fold under that weight.
Zach Browning,
'That's really where I feel like I got my hard work from,' Sarratt said. 'Nobody was calling, but I was still outside every day by myself on the field — grinding — and it eventually worked out for me.'
When Saint Francis came calling, Sarratt finally had his shot. And once he got on the field, he didn't waste it. As a true freshman in 2022, he caught 40 passes for 700 yards, ranked fifth nationally in the FCS with 13 touchdowns grabs and started the final four games of the season. He became a FCS Freshman All-American.
It was the breakthrough he had been waiting for, validation that his lonely summer sessions in high school were worth it.
Even with that success, Sarratt knew he wasn't done climbing. He transferred to James Madison, where he played the 2023 season alongside his brother, Josh 'Cheese' Sarratt. That year was a turning point for Sarratt personally and professionally.
Playing with his brother deepened their bond, and Cheese became both mentor and motivator. When Elijah needed someone to show him how to take his game to the next level, Cheese was there.
That bond didn't end when Cheese's playing days did. Today, they live together in Bloomington, where Cheese continues to push him daily. If Elijah comes home bragging about the extra work he put in, Cheese is the first to humble him, reminding him there's always more to do. It's the kind of brotherly accountability that keeps Elijah from getting complacent.
'He's not just my brother. He's like my best friend,' Sarratt said. 'We've been like this since we were little … I appreciate him a lot.'
Change has defined Sarratt's journey. From Colonial Forge to St. Frances to Saint Francis to James Madison and finally to Indiana, Sarratt has had to adapt to new environments, new teammates and new playbooks almost every year.
He has also caught passes from a carousel of quarterbacks: Cole Doyle at Saint Francis, Jordan McCloud at James Madison, Kurtis Rouke at Indiana in 2024. Now, as he enters his senior year, Cal transfer Fernando Mendoza will be his signal caller. By his own count, it will be the sixth different starting quarterback Sarratt has played with in six years dating back to high school.
Rather than complain about yet another change, he embraces the challenge. Each quarterback has required him to adjust, to reestablish timing and chemistry. This offseason, Sarratt and Mendoza have built that connection by working together after every practice and staying in touch almost daily.
The instability of Sarratt's past has made this summer's consistency feel like a gift. For the first time since before his junior year of high school, he stayed in one place all offseason. He wasn't worrying about moving or meeting new teammates.
Instead, Sarratt was able to focus on refining his game, taking care of his body and building bonds with teammates in Bloomington. He even took the time to catch an Indiana Fever game in Indianapolis, enjoying the community he now calls home.
'It's definitely my home away from home,' Sarratt said. 'It's just the community — it's a chill community. There's not too much going on. I go out and people are showing me love and saying what's up; it's just chill.'
That sense of comfort is allowing Sarratt to focus on the bigger picture in 2025. His 2024 season was stellar: 53 catches for 957 yards and eight touchdowns, earning him All-Big Ten recognition. Yet, he insists he is not satisfied.
'I'm just focusing on going out and having the best season of my career,' Sarratt said. 'I feel like I've been putting in the work, and it's just a matter of continuing to put in that work day in and day out.'
Sarratt's determined to elevate his game beyond his junior-year production, and he knows what it will take. His offseason regimen has gone beyond extra routes or weight room reps. He's poured hours into film study, recovery and detailed work on his craft.
He sees his senior season not only as another chance to prove all those who have doubted him wrong, but also as an opportunity to put himself in the best position possible for the NFL.
'I'm nowhere near where I want to be right now; all I can do is keep on improving,' Sarratt said. 'The goal is the NFL. I don't just want to be [in the NFL], I want to be a guy in it.'
That dream feels closer than ever. Once, he wasn't sure if he'd even got a scholarship offer to play Division I football. Now, he enters 2025 recognized nationally and sitting on the brink of a professional career.
'It's crazy how close it is. I try to tell myself not to think about it,' Sarratt said. 'I just focus on game in and game out doing what I have to do, and everything else will fall into place.'
What's striking about Sarratt is that through it all — the rejections, the transfers, the instability — he has not let bitterness define him. Instead, those bumps in the road have shaped his mentality. They made him tougher, more adaptable and more appreciative of the journey itself. He has emerged as both one of the nation's best wide receivers and a respected voice among his teammates.
Nicole Auerbach,
'I definitely feel like I'm a little bit more outgoing talking to the guys … just becoming more of a leader,' Sarratt said. 'I feel like I've stepped into that role more and more.'
Indiana will open its season against Old Dominion in less than two weeks. Sarratt knows the Hoosiers' offense will once again lean heavily on him. He also knows that expectations are higher than they've ever been. For the first time, those expectations don't feel like a weight. They feel like a reward — the product of years spent grinding on empty fields with no coaches watching, the result of refusing to give in when no recruiters were calling back, the payoff for all those long nights talking football with his brother.
Sarratt's road to Bloomington was anything but smooth. It has been filled with twists, setbacks and uncertainty. Yet, as he steps into the 2025 season with his eyes set firmly on the NFL, one truth stands out: The bumps in the road didn't slow him down. They built him.
About the Author
Zach Browning is a senior at Indiana University and is a senior writer for TheHoosier.com, a website powered by the Rivals Network that covers Indiana athletics. Zach also broadcasts Indiana sports for WIUX Sports, Indiana's student-run radio station, as well as Big Ten Plus, a student-run broadcasting program powered by the Big Ten Network StudentU program.
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