‘A unicorn’: Miami OL commit Laurence Seymore stars despite size. Now UM has to hang on.
Daniel Luque knew from the first moment he worked with Laurence Seymore the offensive lineman had a chance to be special. Seymore, who now stars at Miami Central, first came to work with Luque when he was just in sixth grade. He had been dubbed “Big Baby” because he was massive for his age and was always the youngest kid playing with older teammates.
Luque only needed to see a few drills to know Seymore would be special, no matter how big he grew to be. He was big and strong, and Luque told Seymore he reminded him of Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Larry Allen because of his rare combination of the skills.
“He’s definitely a unicorn,” said Luque, who coaches at Davie University School in addition to working as a private offensive line tutor. “His combination of power and relentless is unlike anything I’ve seen in high school.”
Luque moved Seymore from center to tackle and Seymore started almost right away once he got to Central as a freshman — something not even Miami Hurricanes offensive lineman Navaughn Donaldson did when he was the Rockets’ last blue-chip lineman. He took over at right tackle about halfway through his first season and has been starting for Central ever since, playing every spot along the line but center. He was a unicorn then because of his rare combination of size and strength at such a young age, and he’s a unicorn now because he’s still one of the best offensive linemen in the country despite being relatively undersized at his position.
Now it’s the only major question mark surrounding Seymore, who has been orally committed to Miami since 2018. Seymore is 6-foot-2 and 293 pounds, which makes him now an undersized offensive lineman. He has steadily slipped in the recruiting rankings as bigger, NFL-type offensive linemen have emerged in the Class of 2021 and he now sits at No. 252 overall in the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
Laurence Seymore’s visit plans
Although Seymore has slipped in the rankings, his stock has grown in the estimation of college coaches. Since the start of 2021, Seymore has added offers from the Florida State Seminoles, LSU Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks and Arkansas Razorbacks, and he plans to visit Florida State this week. Last season, the four-star guard was the top offensive lineman for the Rockets, who set a state championship record for rushing yards in the Class 6A title game.
“A lot of schools was trying to not recruit him and offer him because they said he wasn’t tall or big enough,” said Central coach Roland Smith, who played at Miami in the late 1980s and early 1990s, “but now he’s the No. 1 guy on their board.”
The next few weeks and months will be busy for Seymore from a visits standpoint. The junior has unofficial visits planned with LSU and the Alabama Crimson Tide, and he would also like to visit the North Carolina Tar Heels and Penn State Nittany Lions in the next few months. He also wants to visit the Oregon Ducks at some point, but he might just take an official visit out to Eugene because of the distance.
Why Miami for Laurence Seymore?
In the meantime, Seymore remains locked in with the Hurricanes and expects to be in Coral Gables for some spring practices, too. He initially committed to Miami because it’s the hometown team — the team he grew up rooting for with his family. His grandmother was a massive Hurricanes fan, and he has her name tattooed on his body and often wears a necklace with her picture on it.
Miami is the team he grew up dreaming of playing for, and the Hurricanes were the first major program to offer him a scholarship. As other schools have started to shake of their doubts about Seymore’s potential, he remembers how quick Miami was to believe he would be great.
“They believed in me first. They were my first offer, so I said why not just commit,” Seymore said last week. “I went on a couple visits, but how it’s looking, Miami’s still there highly.”
The Hurricanes are vastly different now than when he first committed. Former coach Mark Richt retired later in the year and coach Manny Diaz replaced the entire offensive staff, including former offensive line coach Stacy Searels. Miami is now on its third offensive line coach since Seymore committed after Garin Justice replaced former offensive line coach Butch Barry in January.
A few weeks after Justice took over, Seymore got to meet the new offensive line coach at a junior day event. Seymore likes the assistant coach’s laid-back demeanor.
“The vibe he had, he’s more relaxed, like you play how you want to play,” Seymore said. “You’re going to learn the scheme and his technique, but he’s more like, ‘You’re free to play how you’re comfortable playing.’”
Seymore said Hurricanes coaches have told him he should work on snapping the ball because his future could be at center and he’s open to the idea.
He’s realistic about knowing how his size will limit to playing interior offensive line, but he doesn’t buy into the idea it will hurt him at those spots. Miami has never thought it would.
“I don’t care about the rankings or nothing like that, but with who they have over me,” Seymore said, “I think I’m the best guard in 2021, it’s just because of my height.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 2:22 PM.
