For Indiana wide receiver Elijah Sarratt, who will play for a national championship against Miami on Monday night, the path to Bloomington wasn’t nearly as smooth as it looks now. When Curt Cignetti left James Madison for Indiana in December 2023, Sarratt didn’t immediately jump at the chance to follow his coach. In fact, he was so conflicted about the whole situation that he nearly ended up in South Carolina.
“Leaving from when I hit the portal from JMU at first, I was like, man, I don’t even know if I want to go to Indiana,” Sarratt admitted on the Homegrown podcast. “I was still a little salty, you know. I’m young. I was kind of in my feelings that they had left. “I was kind of in my feelings that they had left because I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to transfer at the time, because I was already a two-time transfer. So they had—they eventually passed the rule to where I was able to transfer. So I was like, Man, I’m trying to go down south somewhere.”
South Carolina nearly landed him. The Gamecocks had extended an offer, and Sarratt was seriously considering a visit to Columbia. But Curt Cignetti wasn’t about to let that happen. “I told [Curt Cignetti] I was supposed to visit South Carolina. And he was like, “Nah, I don’t want you to do that.” So shook his hand there. It turned out to be good. Coach Steph, he was a receiver coach at South Carolina. A really good receiver coach. We still talk to this day. He ended up going to Illinois, like, two days after I committed. So, I just saw the Lord right there, like saying, “You’re where you’re supposed to be.” So, it all turned out good.”…