How Virginia Tackle Developed into Coveted Prospect
On paper, Robinson Secondary (Va.) offensive tackle Tristan Leigh has solidified himself among the top offensive lineman in the country, but his rise to 40 offers began heading into his junior when in-state Virginia became the first to extend an offer. The long-armed tackle saw his athleticism that he picked up playing basketball as a kid helped translate into elite athleticism as a lineman. But according to head coach Scott Vossler, the staff knew the type of talent even when Leigh was a 6-foot-2 freshman lineman.
“When he was in middle school, he kind of saw himself as a basketball player more. I had to tell him to play football, at left tackle, 6-6 guys that can move are money makers,” Vossler told All Terrapins. “He quickly started to realize that, by eighth grade, he started to know but he was one of our better basketball players. He’s a very good athlete for a big kid. When I saw him playing as a freshman, you could see it that if he gets to 6-5, 6-6, he’s going to be a big-time Division I guy. Once he started growing, I knew it was just a matter of time”
The January 22 offer from Virginia last year kicked off a flurry of offers as head coach Mike Locskley and the staff became the eleventh school to join the mix. “He wasn’t guys that had offers as a freshman, or even before. He got all his offers starting, really, in January of his sophomore year so in a year, he got 40 offers. First time he started evaluating anybody was a year ago. Cutting it to 15 was actually hard for him because he didn’t have two or three years to go around.”
Fast-forward to now and coaches from all over the country have had their eyes on the coveted prospect, but his extensive offer list along with the inability to take visits has complicated his recruitment. After releasing a top fifteen in early May, Maryland was among the long list of suitors to make the cut as Leigh narrowed his focus. The lack of in-person feel with each program, however, made the decision to 15 schools hard for him.
“He kind of got a situation here with what’s going where he really hasn’t had a wide list of favorites. He hasn’t been able to little that down at all because he hasn’t been able to go anywhere,” head coach Scott Vossler told All Terrapins. “I think Maryland is in that group of teams, it’s just where is he going to go once he’s able to visit. I think that’ll be more telling about his top five.” While schools far-and-wide like Oklahoma, USC and Ohio State among those in hot pursuit, Leigh is giving the programs local to him a strong chance to win him over. As local programs aim to capitalize on the benefits of staying local for college, coach Vossler added there is merit to those claims when it comes to Leigh.
“He’s got offers from everybody, so before he leaves the area, he’s going to make sure these local schools aren’t going to be a good fit for him. Ideally, he sees the merit in staying around and letting the people that watched you grow up now watching you play college football and have that special relationship with the community if you’re a local guy,” Vossler added. “He kind of values that, so I think that’s why Maryland, UVA and Virginia Tech will be in it for a while because that’s important to him.”
The NCAA extended the ongoing dead period to July 31, so while Leigh has not finalized visit plans just yet, an idea is in place for where he needs to get to next.
“I think he wants to make a Florida trip because he’s never been to those schools. That was something that he had planned on doing during our spring break, but then obviously he couldn’t, so I think that’s something he has on his agenda. He’s been to Clemson, he’s been to Alabama and LSU, so he’s been to a lot of the other ones but besides the Florida schools, he knows the other places. I think he wants to see them and then do his officials.”
