Miami Hurricanes 2020 Player Profile: Ousman Traore

After spending the 2018 season playing junior college football and the 2019 season redshirting with the Miami Hurricanes, it appears that Ousman Traore is ready to contribute for Miami’s offensive line in 2020.

Offensive line coach Garin Justice told the media last week that Traore was the starting left guard during Miami’s first practice last Friday.

While that certainly does not mean he will be starting at that position moving forward, it does seem to indicate that Traore has worked hard enough during the offseason to catch Justice’s eye and potentially earn an opportunity to be in the rotation in 2020.

In 2018, Traore started 11 games for Hutchinson (Ks.) Community College and was a full qualifier after his true freshman season in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.

Miami jumped on the opportunity to add Traore after one year of junior college ball and signed him to a scholarship in June 2019. He participated in two games (Bethune-Cookman and Central Michigan) as a true sophomore and will enter the 2020 season as a redshirt sophomore.

Traore is listed at 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds on Miami’s official roster this season. His frame makes him an ideal candidate to work at either the left guard or right guard position.

With DJ Scaife Jr. holding down the right guard position in early season practices, that leaves Traore to compete with Zion Nelson, Jakai Clark and Cleveland Reed Jr. among others at left guard.

Justice is working to find the five offensive linemen who best fit offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee’s spread offense.

Most of Traore’s highlights from junior college football show him working at left guard in a spread attack.