New East Ridge RB Uriah Maynard looking to do big things

Uriah Maynard has a warning for everyone heading into this year’s high school football campaign.

“This season, guarantee it, I’m running for 2,000 yards,” Maynard said at the recent Orlando Regional FBU Camp.

It was his second straight camp during which he showed superior talent compared to many of the other running backs involved, and he came out of the camps pleased with his performances.

“It’s nothing new to me. I come out here and ball out every time,” Maynard said.

Maynard, 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, has a tough chore ahead. The rising senior is facing his final opportunity to get on the radar of college recruiters. His problem right now is that no one knows him. So he is out to provide the answer to the question: Who is Uriah Maynard?

East Ridge coach Donnie Burchfield would love to see Maynard eclipse that 2,000-yard mark.

“I sure hope he does,” Burchfield said. “We’re sure going to feed him the ball. That is no question.”

He has been dwarfed in the shadows of running backs at Lake Minneola over the past few seasons as he watched other tote the football. In 2022, he witnessed John Celestin run for 1,500 yards. Last season it was Dane Thompkins, who ran for 1,800 yards.

Maynard did get a few carries at Lake Minneola last year, managing 462 yards and two touchdowns, a solid 7.5 yards-per-carry average.

Unfortunately for Maynard, Thompkins is also returning for his senior season, so Maynard has pulled up stakes and transferred to Clermont East Ridge.

“It’s a little overwhelming, but I can really do this,” Maynard said. “I think it’s going to be a little challenge, but I’m just going to push through it and do the best I can.”

He is expecting a lot of himself and 2,000 yards in a season is a rare feat, especially if a team does not make the playoffs. East Ridge has not been to the playoffs since 2017, but the Knights have high hopes this season and are banking on Maynard.

If Maynard does reach 2,000 yards, he will be the first running back in Central Florida to accomplish the feat since Lake Minneola’s Kyeandre Magloire ran for 2,008 in 2019.

“He’s extremely underrated,” Burchfield said. “He’s strong in the weight room. He hit 300 on the bench yesterday. He’s extremely strong and has done everything we have asked him to do since January.

“And character-wise, he is a great young man and he does the right thing in the classroom and he is just a good person to be around. He’s also a great leader and he leads by example, not by lip service … He’s the first one in a drill … always encouraging his teammates.”

Maynard left a school that has the best offensive line in Central Florida at Lake Minneola, but Burchfield has high hopes for his front five this season.

In 2022, Burchfield took over an East RIdge team that had gone 1-10 in 2021. This year, he is counting on the development of his young offensive line. Rising junior guard/center Gabriel Maldanado is the out for the spring, rehabbing a shoulder injury, but he will be back. Burchfield also has tackle Midley Bazil, who has experience, and he too is in the 2026 class.

“We also have some young guys who are coming up too,” said Burchfield, who is 9-11 in his first two seasons at East Ridge. “We are living and breathing in the weightroom. That is the foundation that we are working on. From a fundamental side, it all starts in the weightroom. We are trying to make gains of 30 to 50 pounds every three months with every lift.”

Burchfield is pleased with the progress.

“It showed this year because we only lost to Minneola by four points in the district championships in weightlifting,” Burchfield said. “We had 11 guys make it to regionals, which was huge for our program.”

So for a program that has gone through some up and down years while struggling to find any continuity in a coaching staff and consistency on the field, Burchfield seems to have found the right ingredient to get things going. The Knights had their first winning season in six years at 6-4 last year and the coach is encouraged, especially with Maynard toting the rock.

“I think we’ll be fine. Looking at our schedule, we’re looking at ways to be able to get in a position where we can go in and compete with Dr. Phillips and Olympia,” Burchfield said of East Ridge’s new district assignments, along with Celebration. “Those are our two toughest games. Outside of that on our schedule, we are not playing anyone who beat us last year.

“So again, looking at our schedule, I see a lot of chances for Uriah to be explosive and give us a good chance to win a lot of those games.”

Chris Hays can be reached via email at chays@orlandosentinel.com.