Miami football working on flipping OL MVP at the Opening Orlando

Three-star 2020 offensive lineman Richie Leonard posted on his Twitter account that he has received an off from the Miami football team. Leonard is currently committed to Kentucky.

Richie Leonard is the 782nd ranked player in the Class of 2020, the 45th ranked offensive guard and the 109th ranked player in Florida. Leonard committed to Kentucky on October 21, 2018, according to his 247Sports profile page. Leonard is 6’3 320 pounds. The Miami football roster needs more depth on the offensive line.

He is ranked nationally as a guard but listed separately as a tackle on his page. Despite his three-star status, Leonard was the Most Valuable Player among the offensive linemen at Nike’s the Opening recruiting event in Orlando the last weekend in February.

Leonard attended the Miami Hurricanes camp last summer. He currently holds six other offers from Power five schools in addition to Miami. Leonard does not have any crystal ball predictions about where he will sign but is listed as a hard commit to Kentucky.

The Miami Football 2020 recruiting class is currently ranked third nationally behind LSU and Alabama. They desperately need to add offensive linemen. The Hurricanes added only three offensive linemen in the Class of 2019, none of which are nationally ranked.

Miami’s 2020 recruiting Class has not received a commitment from an offensive lineman. Most of the Hurricanes offensive linemen signed over the past few years have been a disappointment. The only real exceptions to that have been rising Junior guard Navaughn Donaldson and Rising Sophomore Tackle D.J. Scaife.

Four-star Class of 2017 signees at tackle Kai-Leon Herbert and Zalon’tae Hillery have not come anywhere close to living up their recruiting rankings come out of high school.

Herbert was the 253rd ranked player in the Class of 2017, the 25th ranked offensive tackle and the 35th ranked player in Florida. Hillery was 504th, 53rd and 50th across the same categories. Herbert is entering his redshirt Sophomore season and only played against Pittsburgh in 2018.

Hillery will also be a redshirt Sophomore in 2019. He received playing time in seven games last season. Both players are expected to get pushed by 2018 signee John Campbell who redshirted last season.

Butler transfer Tommy Kennedy is expected to start at left tackle, with Scaife on the right side. Donaldson will likely join Scaife on the right side as a three-year starter at right guard.

Rising Junior Corey Gaynor should be the center, Redshirt Sophomore Zach Dykstra and Redshirt Freshman Cleveland Reed should battle to be the starter at left guard. The Hurricanes could always move Donaldson to the left side and have Dykstra and Reed battle to start at right guard.