San Francisco 49ers rookie Trey Sermon is ready to hit the ground running in his first season.
The running back said he's already familiar with Kyle Shanahan's outside-zone scheme, having studied it in preparation for his transfer from Oklahoma to Ohio State last year.
"When I was making the transition to Ohio State, I was looking at a lot of outside zone," Sermon said, per Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area. "The 49ers were definitely one of the teams that I looked at. Just going through the progressions and the reads because I knew when I got to Ohio State we were going to run a lot of that."
Shanahan's offense is among the top ground games in the NFL. The scheme consistently provides holes for speedy backs to skirt through and takes advantage of defensive weaknesses, stretching their opponents thin.
Sermon believes his study and experience at OSU gives him a leg up in a RB competition that's sure to come during training camp.
"It hasn't been too difficult just making the transition," Sermon said. "Some of the stuff is similar to what I did at Ohio State. I feel like my acclimation will be pretty smooth, and it will be good."
Sermon joins a backfield that includes Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, Wayne Gallman, JaMycal Hasty and fellow rookie Elijah Mitchell.
Shanahan utilizes a deep backfield rotation and always finds backs who fit his scheme and can produce. Sermon's familiarity and experience with that scheme, coupled with his pass-catching ability, should make him the perfect fit in San Francisco. The rookie could be the latest big-play threat to thrive in the Shanahan system.