Canes back in the mix for 5-star DT Taylor

This past weekend, 2021 Miami Palmetto (FL) 5-star DT Leonard Taylor competed with some of the area’s top talent at the Under Armour All-America Miami Camp. After dominating the event, Taylor earned an invite to the UA All-America Game with a strong effort in the trenches against a solid group of offensive linemen.

“I feel like I did great,” Taylor said. “I did what I was supposed to do, showed people why I’m a five-star.”

Who was the toughest offensive lineman to go against?

“The center from Columbus (Ryan Rodriguez), he’s pretty tough,” Taylor said.

In late December, Taylor left the Miami Hurricanes out of his top 5 list he released on Twitter, and many felt that was a surprising decision considering how much he had talked up the local school over the past year. The Canes’ staff was also taken back a bit, and head coach Manny Diaz and DL coach Todd Stroud reached out to Taylor soon after.

“They told me I shouldn’t give up on them now, that everybody has turnaround seasons,” Taylor said. “They just said to keep them in my mind.”

It seems UM’s pitch worked, as the Canes were able to get Taylor back on campus again about a month later for their Junior Day event in late January.

“I was talking mostly with coach Stroud,” Taylor said of the visit. “He seems like a good person. He was teaching me about the defense they’d be running if I come out there and the relationships I could build with the coaches.

“He told me basically if I come out there, I could play any position on the line, because I have the athletic ability to do it.”

Ultimately the appeal of a program like Miami to Taylor is the tradition of the team and the proximity of the campus in relation to his family.

“Who wouldn’t want to be a Cane? There’s no place like home,” Taylor said of UM. “The coaches really interest me and it just feels like home every time I’m there.”

The schools that originally made Taylor’s top 5 were LSU, Georgia, Florida, Auburn, and Tennessee. In addition to putting Miami back in the mix, Taylor says he is also considering Texas A&M as well, and he has a few more visits planned for later this spring. The Miami Palmetto also recently took a visit to UF last week as well.

“I’ll be going to Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia, and Auburn,” Taylor said. “No dates yet, I’m going during my spring break, so really it’s whenever I have time.”

With his current plan to commit in early December before signing early, Taylor still has plenty of time to come to a decision, but he does know what he will mainly be looking for when it comes time to make his choice.

“Really it’s about the education,” Taylor said. “I want to go to the school and feel like I’m going to learn something, football is second.”