BALTIMORE — Elijah Sarratt almost quit football during his first practice.

He was 6 years old, running gassers on a field in Stafford County, Va., when he unbuckled his chin strap and drifted toward the sideline. His father, Donnie — the team’s coach — had just told the kids that if they didn’t want to run, they could “go sit with your mamas!”

Sarratt believed him.

Obedient in the way only a child can be when everything is still taken literally, he turned and started walking. He might have kept going, too, if another coach hadn’t stepped in and steered him back toward the line.

Back toward the work.

Sarratt didn’t know it then, but the moment would echo. Because nothing about his football life has moved in a straight line since and the journey would require a belief to keep going even when obstacles said otherwise.

Entering his final year of high school, he left his local public school for powerhouse Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, chasing better football and a version of himself not yet fully formed. The exposure never arrived the way he imagined. Sarratt sent wishful emails and direct messages into the dark and waited for answers that never came. Dozens of college coaches either didn’t reply or said they weren’t interested.

By the end, he was a zero-star recruit holding a single Division I offer, from tiny FCS Saint Francis in Pennsylvania.

He took it anyway.

After an All-American season in which his 13 touchdowns tied a school record and were four more than any other FCS freshman, he was on the move again. At James Madison, he broke out, with 82 catches for 1,191 yards and eight touchdowns, including six games in which he had at least 100 yards.

When coach Curt Cignetti took the job at Indiana, Sarratt followed. It made his mother nervous — she thought he was in a good place, that he was happy — but her youngest son trusted himself. He believed in Cignetti, in strength coach Derek Owings, and in the idea that something more was still ahead.

In his first year at Indiana, Sarratt’s prowess produced a first down or a touchdown on 43 of 53 receptions and his Pro Football Focus grade was only slightly behind future first-round pick Emeka Egbuka among Big Ten receivers. By the end of his second, he was part of something no one saw coming, helping lift Indiana to its first national championship — a run stitched together by belief as much as talent.

Last month, the Ravens called his name in the fourth round of the draft, the second of two receivers they selected along with Southern California’s Ja’Kobi Lane.

The long road hadn’t deterred Sarratt. It shaped him.

“It was tough,” Sarratt told The Baltimore Sun. “I always knew what I was capable of; just, other people weren’t believing in me at the moment.”

He kept going.

‘He’s bagging everyone in practice’

Donnie Sarratt, a government contractor, and his wife Kim, a customer service manager for a moving company, have three sons. In addition to Elijah, now 22, there’s Jalen, 28, and Josh, 25 — better known as “Cheese,” a nickname his parents gave him as a child when they’d ask if he wanted something “with his whine.” It stuck. They thought football would, too.

At Colonial Forge High School, Josh was all-state in “everything,” Donnie said. A standout in track and basketball, he was one of the state’s top defensive backs, receivers and punt returners in a region fertile with talent. His parents believed a pro career was possible.

Years earlier, he had also been Elijah’s inspiration.

“Josh has been a football junkie; from when he was about 7 years old he was outside playing football, working out, everything,” Donnie said. “And one day Elijah just happens to venture out there and next thing you know he’s hooked.”

But Josh topped out at 5-foot-10. It wasn’t long before Elijah, also a solid basketball player whose game his dad playfully said was more Andre Miller than LeBron James, was the one turning heads on the football field.

Not one to offer praise easily, Josh came home one day and told their father that no one could guard his younger brother, then just a sophomore.

“He’s bagging everyone in practice,” Josh told their parents. “Elijah is different.”

Zero-star recruit with one scholarship offer

Though Saint Frances Academy has been in existence since 1828, the school’s football team wasn’t founded until 2008, following a $60,000 contribution from then-Gilman coach Biff Poggi, who became the school’s coach in 2017. The program — and Poggi — later became the subject of controversy over recruiting elite players from beyond state lines, leading to national dominance and also in-state opponents crying foul and unwilling to play them.

By the time Sarratt was a junior, he had moved past his NBA fantasy and shifted his focus to football, seeking better competition and greater visibility. Without telling his parents, he reached out to Saint Frances about transferring. Poggi liked what he saw but made one thing clear: Sarratt was used to being the best player on the field but wouldn’t be that there.

“He needed that competition,” Kim said.

Initially, Sarratt drew interest from both FBS and FCS programs, thanks to his 6-foot-2 frame, his emergence as an all-region selection at Colonial Forge, and his move to Saint Frances.

“He was a real tough cover,” said Blake Woodby, a speedy top-five ranked cornerback nationally out of Saint Frances and now an ascendant sophomore at Auburn. “He’s not the fastest guy by all means, but he’s very technically sound. Everything he does is precise on the field.”

But the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out Saint Frances’ 2020 season. The transfer portal reshaped recruiting. His lack of elite speed didn’t help. Interest faded, and suddenly he was a zero-star recruit with an unclear future.

His only offer was from Saint Francis, now a Division III program.

Breakout moment

After two strong seasons at Virginia Military Institute — a school dubbed the West Point of the South by Abraham Lincoln — Josh Sarratt transferred to James Madison in 2021. By then, Cignetti had already made his mark, leading the Dukes to a 14-2 record and an appearance in the FCS national championship game in his first season in 2018.

With Josh already there and the program ascending, it became an appealing next step.

As a freshman, Elijah led Saint Francis in receiving touchdowns and finished third in catches and receiving yards.

At James Madison, it didn’t take long for him to shine.

In a nationally televised November 2023 home game against Appalachian State in which ESPN’s “College GameDay” was also on hand, Sarratt made a series of leaping, contested catches. One came on fourth-and-18 in the final minute. Two more followed on the game-tying touchdown and 2-point conversion. He finished with eight receptions for 128 yards.

The Dukes lost in overtime, ending their undefeated season, but Sarratt had announced himself.

“We just put the ball in his hands in his vicinity, and he’s most likely going to come down with it,” quarterback Jordan McCloud told reporters afterward.

When Indiana hired Cignetti to replace Tom Allen following the 2023 season, he raised eyebrows when asked how he planned to sell his vision to recruits. “It’s simple, I win. Google me,” he said.

Sarratt didn’t need convincing.

He had already succeeded under Cignetti and continued to develop physically under Owings. At James Madison, he’d led the team in catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. That’s also where his nickname — “Waffle House,” for always being open — was born, with Donnie proudly bragging on his son on social media.

“I feel like every third down or something, they would give me the ball, and I would convert on it,” Sarratt said. “But it’s also a mindset, too. Those contested catches, I always feel like I’m open. It’s just a mentality that I have.”

At Indiana, that mentality translated quickly.

In his first year, he posted 957 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging an impressive 18.1 yards per reception. Last season, he nearly doubled his touchdowns, finishing with an FBS-best 15 on 65 catches for 830 yards and was a significant contributor to the Hoosiers’ title run.

A big part of his success came on back-shoulder throws, something he’d studied by watching clips of Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams. It also began somewhat organically, first on occasion at JMU, then by happenstance his first year at Indiana on a few off-target throws by quarterback Kurtis Rourke. When Fernando Mendoza got there, though, it was by design and helped propel the quarterback to the Heisman Trophy.

“It’s just a feel,” Sarratt said of the back-shoulder grabs. “You and your quarterback have to be on the same page.”

He also credits his basketball background for his body control — the hop steps, the Euro steps, the ability to absorb contact.

“All those little movements translate to the field,” he said.

Another advantage: his hands — 10 inches (the same size as three-time All-Pro and former Raven DeAndre Hopkins) and strong as they are reliable with a 3.6% drop rate in 2025. It was another trait that helped him stand out.

“His brothers don’t have hands nearly that big,” his mother said. “One time at JMU, Josh said they were doing a workout with hand weights and the tension was turned way up and Josh said he couldn’t believe how strong his brother’s hands are. Elijah did 10 reps, and Josh couldn’t do one.”

Role with the Ravens

The Ravens have an underwhelming record when it comes to drafting big-bodied wide receivers. Breshad Perriman, a first-round pick in 2015, and Miles Boykin, a third-round selection in 2019, are just two among many who did not meet expectations.

There was also a need to try again. None of Baltimore’s three returning receivers — Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Devontez Walker — are taller than 6-1 or weigh more than 200 pounds, two marks that Lane and Sarratt both exceed.

While many considered Lane a reach on Day 2 in Round 3, Sarratt was “pissed” that he didn’t get chosen until the third day and fourth round of the draft, his father said.

That the Ravens selected Sarratt, though, was perhaps not surprising. During his pro day, their wide receiver coaches, along with the New Orleans Saints’, were still talking to him as the place cleared out.

After Baltimore used the 115th overall pick on Sarratt, the Saints chose Auburn guard Jeremiah Wright 132nd and North Dakota State wide receiver Bryce Lance 136th.

How Lane’s and Sarratt’s roles develop remains to be seen, but each gives quarterback Lamar Jackson a large catch radius. Sarratt, who could also contribute on special teams, stood out at Indiana in particular running go routes, outs and slants.

He also said he wants to make Jackson’s job easier by being where he’s supposed to be, when he’s supposed to be there, as well as bring the same attitude he had to get to this point.

“My mindset is, just that any time the ball is in the air, it’s mine,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m uncovered, if I have one person on me or two people on me; just as a receiver, if you want to be great, you have to have that mindset.”

He hasn’t forgotten the path that brought him here — from nearly walking off the field at 6 to becoming a zero-star recruit to moving through three colleges in four years.

“I keep that chip on my shoulder that I had back then, just ’cause I don’t want to go back to that,” he said. “It was a lot of hours by myself wondering why no one was taking me. … I just knew I needed my foot in the door somewhere.”

Now, the ball goes up again.

And he still believes it’s his.

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