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2020 Oakleaf (FL) OL Jalen Rivers has officially signed with the Miami Hurricanes. He is the 16th signee today for UM.
The 6-6 330 pounder is currently a consensus 4-star recruit in the national rankings. According to the 247Sports Composite, Rivers is the #145 player nationally, #15 OT in the country, and the #23 player in the Sunshine State.
Recruiting Story
Rivers has long been considered a top prospect in the 2020 class, as he began receiving big offers from the likes of Alabama, Georgia, UF, FSU, and Tennessee, in addition to Miami, after his freshman season at Oakleaf. After initially looking like a Miami-lean early on in the process, the Canes seemed to be on the outside looking in with Rivers for the early part of 2019. However, Rivers took a strong visit to UM in mid-April, and the staff really felt they made a move. The Canes were in the lead from then on, and other finalists Florida and Georgia couldn’t do enough to sway Rivers from UM.
Evaluation
Rivers plays left tackle for Oakleaf, but his best position is as a right tackle or guard at the next level. Rivers has the length for tackle, but will need to trim off some bad weight and add more flexibility if he wants to stick on the outside full-time. At the Opening Orlando regional, he recorded a 5.09 in the shuttle, a 5.67 in the 40, and a vertical leap of 21 inches. Rivers displays his athleticism across multiple different sports, competing at football, basketball, track, and weightlifting at Oakleaf. This past spring, Rivers won a State Championship in the shot put as well. His intelligence is also an asset and he is well-known as one of the smartest people on the field with a 4.3 GPA.
On film, Rivers shows a solid wide-build and is powerful with long arms. A plus run-blocker that accelerates in his run fits and isn’t afraid to get nasty with his opponent. Active feet that are always moving into position to secure his block, and demonstrates ability to pull, get out in front, and pave the way for his back. Good timing on combo blocks. Shows high awareness when climbing up to the second level and is able to lock-on to smaller targets and bury them. Leans too much in the passing game and gets off balance; needs to refine his technique in that area. That will get him into trouble at the next level, but he will have plenty of time to tweak that part of his game, especially if he starts out on the interior.
At Paradise Camp over the summer, Rivers showed he had cut some weight and that he could hold up at tackle against some of the best speed rushers in the area. It was certainly encouraging when thinking of his long-term prospects of sticking on the edge.
The Team
Rivers is just one piece in an offensive line rebuild that will take a few seasons, but he is certainly a very important piece for Butch Barry. In a perfect world, Rivers would start out at guard and move out to tackle in a year or two once he gets good playing experience; however, Miami doesn’t really have that luxury with their issues at tackle, so the word is that Barry plans to start him on the edge. While DJ Scaife looked solid at right tackle in 2019, Zion Nelson was a problem area at left tackle, backup tackle Kai-Leon Herbert looked pretty much unplayable in the first significant action of his career in the Duke game, and reserve tackle Zalon’tae Hillery has been unable to crack the regular rotation in three years at UM on some of the worst lines in program history.
Redshirt Probability: 2/10
Predicting playing time for true freshmen on the offensive line is always dicey, but Rivers is going to be one of the top 2 or 3 most talented linemen on the roster from the moment he gets to UM. I’m sure Miami would prefer to redshirt Rivers and develop his body in the S&C program for a season, but similar to Zion Nelson, they might not have that luxury and will certainly put him in the rotation if he proves to be one of the top few linemen on the team. Enrolling early is going to be a huge benefit for Rivers’ playing time chances as well. With the lack of depth on the line, it would be a disappointment if Rivers can’t at least crack the rotation in 2020. If Rivers is going to live up to the hype, he should be at least the #3 tackle on this team from the outset.
The 6-6 330 pounder is currently a consensus 4-star recruit in the national rankings. According to the 247Sports Composite, Rivers is the #145 player nationally, #15 OT in the country, and the #23 player in the Sunshine State.
Recruiting Story
Rivers has long been considered a top prospect in the 2020 class, as he began receiving big offers from the likes of Alabama, Georgia, UF, FSU, and Tennessee, in addition to Miami, after his freshman season at Oakleaf. After initially looking like a Miami-lean early on in the process, the Canes seemed to be on the outside looking in with Rivers for the early part of 2019. However, Rivers took a strong visit to UM in mid-April, and the staff really felt they made a move. The Canes were in the lead from then on, and other finalists Florida and Georgia couldn’t do enough to sway Rivers from UM.
Evaluation
Rivers plays left tackle for Oakleaf, but his best position is as a right tackle or guard at the next level. Rivers has the length for tackle, but will need to trim off some bad weight and add more flexibility if he wants to stick on the outside full-time. At the Opening Orlando regional, he recorded a 5.09 in the shuttle, a 5.67 in the 40, and a vertical leap of 21 inches. Rivers displays his athleticism across multiple different sports, competing at football, basketball, track, and weightlifting at Oakleaf. This past spring, Rivers won a State Championship in the shot put as well. His intelligence is also an asset and he is well-known as one of the smartest people on the field with a 4.3 GPA.
On film, Rivers shows a solid wide-build and is powerful with long arms. A plus run-blocker that accelerates in his run fits and isn’t afraid to get nasty with his opponent. Active feet that are always moving into position to secure his block, and demonstrates ability to pull, get out in front, and pave the way for his back. Good timing on combo blocks. Shows high awareness when climbing up to the second level and is able to lock-on to smaller targets and bury them. Leans too much in the passing game and gets off balance; needs to refine his technique in that area. That will get him into trouble at the next level, but he will have plenty of time to tweak that part of his game, especially if he starts out on the interior.
At Paradise Camp over the summer, Rivers showed he had cut some weight and that he could hold up at tackle against some of the best speed rushers in the area. It was certainly encouraging when thinking of his long-term prospects of sticking on the edge.
The Team
Rivers is just one piece in an offensive line rebuild that will take a few seasons, but he is certainly a very important piece for Butch Barry. In a perfect world, Rivers would start out at guard and move out to tackle in a year or two once he gets good playing experience; however, Miami doesn’t really have that luxury with their issues at tackle, so the word is that Barry plans to start him on the edge. While DJ Scaife looked solid at right tackle in 2019, Zion Nelson was a problem area at left tackle, backup tackle Kai-Leon Herbert looked pretty much unplayable in the first significant action of his career in the Duke game, and reserve tackle Zalon’tae Hillery has been unable to crack the regular rotation in three years at UM on some of the worst lines in program history.
Redshirt Probability: 2/10
Predicting playing time for true freshmen on the offensive line is always dicey, but Rivers is going to be one of the top 2 or 3 most talented linemen on the roster from the moment he gets to UM. I’m sure Miami would prefer to redshirt Rivers and develop his body in the S&C program for a season, but similar to Zion Nelson, they might not have that luxury and will certainly put him in the rotation if he proves to be one of the top few linemen on the team. Enrolling early is going to be a huge benefit for Rivers’ playing time chances as well. With the lack of depth on the line, it would be a disappointment if Rivers can’t at least crack the rotation in 2020. If Rivers is going to live up to the hype, he should be at least the #3 tackle on this team from the outset.
