Elite DL Derrick LeBlanc ready to visit Miami again. Aaron Feld is key in his recruitment
Derrick LeBlanc had to get up pretty early Sunday to get out to Ives Estates Park for the first stop of the Under Armour Next Camp Series. Mario Cristobal still beat him by a few hours.
“Cristobal texted me about 4,” the four-star defensive lineman said Sunday in Ives Estates after he landed an invitation to the Under Armour All-America Game. “I’m like, Come on. Does this man sleep?”
It’s part of the charm of Cristobal and the new identity the coach is trying to build for the Miami Hurricanes. All those changes Cristobal has made in a little less than three months at Miami have made the Hurricanes particularly intriguing to LeBlanc, who already took an unofficial visit to Coral Gables in January and plans to be back again next month.
The first visit helped solidify the Kissimmee Osceola defensive end’s interest in Miami. His March return trip will come as he’s getting ready to narrow down his options and make a commitment relatively soon.
“I want to take my officials, knock them all out, then just sit down, really take the time to figure out who can develop me the most,” said LeBlanc, who’s the No. 86 overall recruit in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2023.
March will be busy for LeBlanc: He’ll start by visiting the UCF Knights on March 1, then visit the Florida Gators on March 5, the Hurricanes on March 19 and the Oklahoma Sooners on March 25. In April, he’s eyeing visits with the Ohio State Buckeyes and Penn State Nittany Lions.
Those are six of the schools in his top seven, along with the Clemson Tigers, but he also has high-profile Southeastern Conference suitors like the Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, Ole Miss Rebels and Texas A&M Aggies coming after him.
Right now, the 6-foot-4, 270-pound prospect is the No. 1 defensive lineman in Florida, excluding Bradenton IMG Academy, after he logged 38 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, eight sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and four passes defended in 12 games as a junior.
Throughout his junior fall, LeBlanc made the trip down to South Florida a handful of times to watch at least one game in Miami Gardens when Manny Diaz was the coach and again to check out the program in the earliest days of the Cristobal era.
While he was considering the Hurricanes during the Diaz era, the elite lineman is even more impressed with the direction Cristobal is taking things, and the first person he mentioned was strength and conditioning coordinator Aaron Feld.
“Diaz and them, it was good, but did you see that strength coach?” LeBlanc said. “I’ve never seen a dude’s mustache curled like that. He’s cool, though. He’s cool people because every time I go on a visit I spend like an hour with a strength coach. That’s mandatory, though, because that’s the guy you’re going to be with most of the time. You build that bond with that guy, he’s going to work you now, but he’s going to make you the best you can be.
“Sitting with him, he really taught me a lot of stuff I can bring back home. That’s really what I do now. I go on visits, I pick everybody’s brains, like, What can I do to bring back home and just do it, so when I get to college it’s not a struggle.”
Cristobal is also hands on with LeBlanc, which isn’t surprising given the reputation he brought to Miami and has lived up to since taking over the Hurricanes.
When he was coaching the Oregon Ducks, Cristobal was trying to lure LeBlanc out to the West Coast. Now he has the advantage of just trying to convince LeBlanc to stay in state.
“I like him a lot. He treats you like you’re his son,” LeBlanc said. “It’s really great being around him.”
Other than recruiting, this summer will be about trying to get school work done so he can try to early enroll. A commitment should come sometime in the spring or early summer and then he’ll sign in December with the hope he’ll be on a college campus a few weeks later. Once he does, he’ll be ready to get to work.
Inevitably, the potential of name, image and likeness deals came up, but LeBlanc said he’s not focusing on them too much.
“You’ve got to make the plays to get that type of money or you’ve got to have the fame for it, so my mindset is like what happened to like two years ago? Everybody was just playing football. Nobody cared about this. Everybody cared about going to the league,” LeBlanc said. “To myself, I just focus on making plays, getting in the game, getting your head straight, just get on your grind.”
