‘They’re getting a special player’: Laurence Seymore’s coach explains why UM found a gem
Miami Central is synonymous with running backs. Nearly every year, Central sends a tailback to play in college and has some running back destined to play in a Power 5 Conference. All-Americans aren’t an uncommon sight in the Rockets’ backfield.
Great running backs, though, need great offensive linemen, and Amari Daniels, one of the top halfbacks in South Florida, is blessed with running behind Laurence Seymore, one of the top-ranked offensive linemen in the country. On Saturday, Daniels ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries in Central’s postseason-opening 42-16 rout of Naples Lely, with most of those following Seymore to the left.
“I’m just getting in my groove,” said Seymore, who orally committed to the Miami Hurricanes in 2018.
The Under Armour All-American has only played eight quarters of play so far this season. The Rockets opened the year with a close loss to Miami Northwestern last month, then followed it up with a win against Miami Edison in a game shortened to two quarters because of weather. On Saturday, the Rockets played their first playoff game — their opponents forfeited the previous two games — and they took a 28-point lead into halftime. The first-team offense was done after just two quarters of dominating Lely in the Region 4 Class 6A quarterfinals.
Seymore, who lost most of his summer because he was involved in a serious car accident and injured his shoulder, has played every one of those meaningful snaps at left tackle, the position he has made home the past two years. Even with the physique of an interior lineman, Seymore is able to thrive protecting quarterbacks’ blind sides for the No. 20 team in the country, according to MaxPreps.
“He’s so quick, man,” said Central coach Roland Smith, who played for the Hurricanes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “He’s so athletic. That’s why we’re able to move him outside. He can play anywhere on the line of scrimmage — center, guard or tackle — and he’s doing a tremendous job for us at tackle. He’ll be a center-guard at the University of Miami and they’re getting a special player.”
The knocks against Seymore are well-documented: He’s only about 6-2 and 293 pounds. He always needed to get a little bit stronger, and the offseason injury meant he didn’t get the same sort of weight training he would in a normal offseason. He’s destined to be an interior lineman in college football, and teams don’t value the position as much as tackle.
Those flaws meant scholarship offers didn’t start piling up for Seymore until earlier this year. Since the start of 2020, Seymore has added offers from the Florida State Seminoles, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Tennessee Volunteers, Arkansas Razorbacks and Minnesota Golden Gophers. Florida and LSU both tried to flip Seymore, but he said he’s “locked in 100 percent” with the Hurricanes, and sophomore wide receiver Lamar Seymore, his younger brother, orally committed to Miami in April.
The Hurricanes were always willing to overlook those flaws and instead focus on the rare talent he has displayed since he was a preteen. Miami made an offer to Seymore in 2017, before he was even in high school, and it was quickly obvious he was a rare talent. He took over as the Rockets’ starting right tackle midway through the season and has started every game since at either tackle or guard. He’s still the No. 10 guard in the nation, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
When he first got to Central, Seymore was big for his age, and his combination of quickness and size suggested he was going to become a blue-chip offensive lineman. While he hasn’t grown much vertically, Seymore has grown into his body, Smith said, “and his strength started to catch up with his size.”
His height might mean there’s a cap on his ceiling, but it’s important for Miami to lock up all the blue-chip local linemen it can to improve on a perpetual weakness. Given Seymore’s raw tools as interior lineman and the experience he has gained in pass protection as a tackle, Smith believes he can be a factor in the rotation early on in Coral Gables
“Laurence is a gritty kid, a kid who comes in with a hard hat and brings it in practice every day, gives it 110 percent every day,” Smith said. “If I had a lot of Seymores on this team, I would be great. I’m going to miss him, but I’m going to make sure I take advantage of these 4-5 weeks I’m probably going to have if we continue to win in the postseason and that’s how it goes. We’re going to go out and try to win a state championship.”
This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 3:56 PM.
