The Sarratt family stood outside their house as they watched flames caused by old refrigerator wiring engulf their garage.
Shellshocked, Donnie Sarratt mustered few words as his two oldest sons lamented by his side, not knowing that day would be the last of the family living in their Stafford, Va., home.
But the youngest son, Elijah, mustered the strength to lead a prayer, an act burned into Donnie’s memory.
“That kind of just changed the way I looked at him,” Donnie said of the then-high schooler. “I just thought of him as a kid prior to that moment, but in that moment, he was the adult around everyone.”
Like the years ahead, Elijah didn’t let the twists and turns of life that day rattle him. He was a zero-star recruit who had to fight for every opportunity. He implored schools to consider his services, only to watch them pass him over.
“I always knew what I was capable of, just other people weren’t believing me,” the Ravens fourth-round receiver said.
Few believed in Sarratt, just like few believed in Ravens fifth-round tight end Josh Cuevas.
Also a zero-star recruit, Cuevas was overlooked. Life came at him with curveballs, but the tight end whose first love was baseball dug his cleats in and waited for his pitch. He lives every day following the same mantra as his new teammate.
“Embrace the unexpected,” Cuevas says.
Cuevas and Sarratt grew up on opposite sides of the country, but their journeys couldn’t have been more alike. They faced roadblock after roadblock that would’ve halted most players’ dreams of going pro. But neither allowed circumstances to dictate their futures.