Meet RB Donald Chaney Jr., the stud Hurricanes recruit who almost didn’t commit to UM

Belen Jesuit running back Donald Chaney Jr. isn’t afraid of hard-hitting linebackers, speedy safeties or even humongous defensive linemen.

Dogs — even small ones, according to a teammate — are a different story.

“In my old neighborhood [in Homestead], there were a lot of dogs,” said Chaney, who now lives in Goulds. “Big dogs everywhere, and they’d start chasing you for no reason. If you are a kid, and you get chased by a Great Dane, then you tend to get scared.”

These days, however, it is Chaney who’s the top dog. He is the No. 1 running back in South Florida and the No. 40 national prospect among players at all positions in the Class of 2020, according to espn.com. He also wears jersey No. 1 — so as to leave no doubt.

Chaney, who committed to the Miami Hurricanes in February, is powerfully built at 5-11 and 205 pounds. But he also has speed — his best time in the 40-yard dash was 4.39 at an Under Armour camp. Hops? He has those, too — he can easily dunk a basketball due to his stellar vertical leap of 39.5 inches and is a three-time state champ in the high jump.

Given all that, it would’ve been heartbreaking for the Canes if they didn’t get a commitment from Chaney, but that almost happened. Ask Chaney if he would’ve signed with Miami had Mark Richt not stepped down as coach this past December and wait … and wait … and wait for the response.

After a five-second pause, Chaney finally said: “It was like 50-50.”

Once Manny Diaz replaced Richt, however, everything changed for Chaney.

“Coach Diaz is a very determined guy,” said Chaney, 17. “He’s determined to win, and he’s all about education, which also caught my attention.

“He’s all about life after football, and so was Richt. But Manny was more on it — he wants a change. That’s something I wanted to see. If there’s a change happening, I definitely want to be a part of it.”

Chaney — who said he prefers to be known as Donald as opposed to Don — plans to graduate early, signing with Miami in December and enrolling in January.

It’s obvious he’ll be missed at Belen, where he entered his senior season last week having rushed for 3,112 yards and 40 touchdowns in his prep career. His average per rush of 8.9 yards is also impressive.

“[Chaney] is the type of kid any coach would like to have at least once in a career,” Belen coach Eddie Delgado said. “He’s a happy, hard-working and likable kid.”

PRODIGY PLAYER

Donald Chaney Sr., who in the 1990s was a 6-7, 240-pound receiver for the University of South Carolina — “I was ahead of my time,” he said of his size for the position — is now Belen’s assistant head coach and running backs coach.

Chaney Sr. went undrafted by the NFL, and pro tryouts with the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles didn’t go far due to injuries, he said.

But football has been passed down to Chaney Jr., the youngest of his and his wife Williesha’s three children. At age two, while his father was coaching, Chaney Jr. would mimic football drills.

“When he was five, I put him on the Homestead Raiders [youth-league team], and he’s been scoring touchdowns ever since,” Chaney Sr. said. “He scored 50 or 60 touchdowns his first year.”

At age seven, Chaney caught a punt like an expert and ran it back for a touchdown, and his father was impressed.

Soon after that — when Chaney Jr. was about to enter the seventh grade — the decision was made to move him from a public middle school to Belen, a private, all-boys school.

“I told my son, “I know you are a dynamic athlete, but if we land at a school where the academics are just as tough, it will make you a balanced person’,” Chaney Sr. said. “He bought into that.”

Chaney Jr. said the biggest adversity in his life was adjusting to Belen academics his first year, especially since he deals with attention deficit disorder. But he has made a brilliant adjustment and now carries a 3.5 grade-point average and the voice of a team leader.

He wants to become a neurologist.

Studying medicine while playing major-college football is a nearly impossible task, but people have doubted Chaney before.

“When he came to Belen, everyone said he wasn’t going to get recruited,” his father said. “If he proved the skeptics wrong here, who am I to doubt him on his academics?”

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING

Belen senior safety Sean Beaubien, in practice at least, knows what it’s like to try to tackle Chaney.

“When you see somebody like that running at you — first of all, he’s huge, and second of all, his speed — he’s probably one of the hardest running backs I’ve ever attempted to tackle,” Beaubien said.

“If I get a good stick on him, he will come back the next play and run me over.”

Delgado said Chaney has undergone a “metamorphosis” in terms of his strength since his freshman year, when he was listed at 5-9, 175 pounds.

“I wouldn’t want to tackle this guy now,” Delgado said. “The next step is adding [more] physicality. He has always been tough. But he just outran guys. Now, if something’s not there, he’ll run people over and take them for a ride.”

Chaney is so powerful that to watch him in a game it’s easy to forget he’s still a teenager, still wears braces. He’s likely still growing, and he believes he’ll reach 6-1 or 6-2.

But it’s not just his size. Chaney is a student of the game. His favorite NFL runner is Todd Gurley, and he has watched tons of video on former Canes backs, with Willis McGahee being his favorite, followed by Lamar Miller and Duke Johnson.

All that film study shows on the field.

“The ways he reads the defense, he finds every possible hole,” Beaubien said. “He knows your weaknesses before you even know them.”

Chaney wouldn’t disagree with that assessment, saying: “I know if it’s going to be a touchdown or not before the play.”

After rushing for 1,414 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore, Chaney was held to 979 yards and 14 scores last season, due in part to missing one game and parts of others with an ankle injury.

Belen doesn’t throw the ball much, but Chaney has shown on the summer circuit that he has excellent hands. He also ran two kickoffs for touchdowns as a freshman.

“Once he passes the second level, we all know he’s gone,” teammate Nathaniel Payne said. “There’s no catching him after that.”

Chaney, currently the top-ranked recruit among the 23 players who are committed to Miami for 2020, said he’s actively recruiting athletes to join him in Coral Gables. That includes players at his position such as Columbus star Henry Parrish Jr.

Once he arrives at UM, Chaney figures to fit in perfectly with the swagger that has made the program famous.

Although he is not much for jewelry, Chaney said his wardrobe is top-notch.

“I’ve got better swag than all those guys at UM, especially Coach Diaz. You’ve got to put that in the article,” Chaney said.

“My [Belen] teammates want to wear jewelry and watches. Me, I’m at the party like, ‘Look at my clothes!’ Look at my shoes!’”