'23 FL DE - Derrick LeBlanc (Transfer to UCF)

Discussion in ''23 Committed Elsewhere' started by OSUBasketballJunkie, Jul 30, 2020.

  1. OSUBasketballJunkie

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    Rivals.com
    24/7Sports


    STRONGSIDE DEFENSIVE END
    6'5''|240 LBS
    CLASS OF 2023

    Ohio State has offered.
     
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    1288601810534641670 is not a valid tweet id
     
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    Derrick LeBlanc talks Ohio State offer
    One young player the Buckeyes have seen enough of to know an offer was warranted is Derrick LeBlanc, a likely 5-star prospect in the Class of 2023 from Osceola (Kissimmee, Fla.) High School. Ohio State offered him on Wednesday night.

    The offer, which is No. 38 for LeBlanc, came after a conversation with a handful of Buckeyes coaches.

    “I was talking to Ryan Day,” LeBlanc told Lettermen Row. “He sent me over to Tony Alford, who recruits my area, and they told me they were talking about me with Coach [Larry] Johnson — me and my defensive tackle John Walker — and then they said they wanted to let me know I got offer there.

    “It’s a big one to get, especially at my position. They produce some of the best defensive linemen in the country and have one of the country’s best coaches.”

    Johnson has been in contact with the 6-foot-6, 255-pound 15-year-old since the end of his freshman season. Right now, he’s capable of playing with his hand in the dirt or lining up as an outside linebacker. There’s years of football ahead of him, but Leblanc is trying to piece things together as he looks at the future. There’s a desire to leave the state of Florida — if the opportunity is right.

    “I like Florida and stuff,” he said. “But I want to see new places, so it doesn’t matter to me if I stay close to home. I want my parents to come to my games, but my parents will be happy if I’m succeeding and getting a good education. I’m taking classes so I can enroll early into whatever school I choose. Whenever I’m ready to make a decision, I’ll make the decision.”

    It’s early, but Derrick LeBlanc — and likely his teammate John Walker — will be worth watching for Ohio State.
     
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    LEBLANC BLOWN AWAY BY OFFER FROM BUCKEYES
    On Tuesday night, the news hit that former Ohio State star defensive end Joey Bosa had hit a mega pay day, as the Chargers signed him to a five-year, $135-million extension.

    Less than 24 hours later, Larry Johnson — the man who helped develop Bosa into a multi-million dollar man and one of the most feared pass rushers in the NFL — came calling with an offer to Derrick LeBlanc. LeBlanc is a 2023 defensive end prospect out of Florida’s Osceola High School who is an early candidate to develop into one of his class’ five-star studs.

    Though it was actually area recruiter Tony Alford who officially offered LeBlanc, the relationship with Johnson that has been building steadily since December was one of the prime reasons LeBlanc was floored with the offer.

    “I’ve been talking to Coach Johnson for a long time so for this to happen right now – because I thought they didn’t offer freshmen – so I was surprised,” LeBlanc said. “It means a lot because that means they’re really trying to get me early. So that’s just big.”

    The 6-foot-5, 240-pounder already has offers from almost every powerhouse college program not named Clemson. But when asked which programs have been standing out the most, LeBlanc said bluntly with a laugh: “Ohio State.” Plain and simple.

    “You’ve got Coach Johnson, you’ve got the best coach especially at my position,” LeBlanc said. “He produces a lot.”

    That response wasn’t just because he was speaking with an Ohio State reporter, and that comment obviously doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to being a shoo-in to join the Buckeyes. But it’s a great first step for a program always looking for the next big thing at LeBlanc’s position.

    And after seeing Bosa’s big pay day, and then being offered the very next day by the program that helped get him there, LeBlanc chuckled.

    “Oh my gosh. Joey, Chase Young, Nick Bosa. All of them. I’m just saying, the people he produces are just straight dogs,” LeBlanc said. “That’s crazy. (Johnson) doesn’t (mention the big NFL pay days his former players have gotten). He just wants to know me more. He wants to just see the things I like. That’s what makes him different.”

    LeBlanc appears to have the potential to be a future star defensive end himself. He has a long way to go, though, and LeBlanc is the No. 1 person who knows that. He comes off as a genuinely grateful and humble young player who knows he has to keep working to remain at the top.

    “Every offer means you just gotta work that much harder,” LeBlanc said. “None of this was handed to you. I still just have the mentality of grind like you got nothing. I would never try to get big-headed over this stuff. I stay humble because it could be easily taken away from you so I never get a big head.

    “I know some people who let it get to them. They’re like, ‘I got all these offers so I just stop trying,’ and when they got to college they were like, ‘Oh, man. I should’ve done this.’ I don’t wanna be that type of person. I just stay humble about things, and I just work. People ask me how I’m so different, but it’s just a mindset you’ve gotta have to do those things.”

    As for the recruiting process itself, LeBlanc is being diligent.

    “I ask about the little things,” LeBlanc said. “I look for a lot of things in a school. I’m not looking to go to a school for a big logo. There’s a lot of kids in my area who’ve been doing that. That’s why you see a bunch of kids in the transfer portal. You just need to take your time to process and weigh your options. Not every school’s got what you like.

    “I look for graduation rate, the people in front of, the scheme they run and how I would fit in, the environment, all the people they put in the league – Coach Johnson’s got a lot – and it’s just the little things that stand out for me. Once I go up there and visit, it’s gonna be cool. As soon as (the pandemic) is over (he is going to visit).”

    As for the actual on-field fit, LeBlanc loves what he sees from Ohio State’s scheme.

    “I would fit in real good because they run a nice scheme so I would fit in really good. They run a 4-3 so I would fit in nice,” LeBlanc said. “(Johnson) said I could also play outside linebacker because I’ve got that speed. He said he likes how fast I can get off the ball and that I have the things he likes. He said he only recruits first-round draft picks. That’s the man, right there.”
     
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    On the defensive side of the ball, Ohio State made the early cut for defensive lineman Derrick LeBlanc as he released his Top 10 list earlier this week. LeBlanc has almost 40 offers already and says he’s been in regular communication with the Ohio State defensive staff.

    “I’ve been talking to Ohio State a lot,” LeBlanc told Lettermen Row. “Larry Johnson and his assistant and the defensive coordinator. Everything has been going really smooth. They want me to get up there soon for a visit if I can.”

    LeBlanc is up to 245 pounds following his sophomore season — he was 219 as a freshman — and is shaping up to be a very highly-ranked prospect.
     
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    Derrick LeBlanc has been one of Ohio State's top targets ever since the Buckeyes offered him last summer.

    The 2023 defensive end out of Osceloa High School in Kissimmee, Florida already told Eleven Warriors that he has set up an Ohio State visit for the weekend of June 4-6 for the Buckeye Bash 2.0.

    “I’m gonna be out there with all of them so I just feel blessed about it,” Leblanc told us previously. “we’re all in a group chat so we’re all saying let’s go to Ohio State on this date. So they’re gonna be having their officials when I’m having my unofficial. So it’s just gonna be like, ‘I’m hanging out with the family, my boys.’”

    So while LeBlanc has that visit set up, he could very well be joined by another 2023 Florida star with whom he is close with.
     
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