Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal spoke with the media ahead of Miami's Week 2 game against the FAMU Rattlers. He touched on OJ Frederique's injury, offensive line, and the upcoming game against FAMU.
Check out everything he had to say during his Monday Press Conference down below:
Opening statements: First and foremost, I want to thank our fans that showed up in strong fashion in Palo Alto. We we felt them, we heard them. I'm glad our players got a chance to thank them after the game as well. And then our alumni, who you know, they show up for every game, and you guys see a lot of the same faces. I want to give a special shout out to guys from last year's team that showed up: C.J. Daniels, Keionte Scott, Reuben Bain, and Akheem Mesador, who on their last weekend before they start their NFL careers, they took the time to come out and and visit us, and they actually spoke to the team before we left the hotel, and got on the busses, and they were there with us the entire time, as you saw them. They are excellent coaches. So, but again, really grateful for them. I'm proud of our team for going on the road and taking care of business. A lot of things that we made progress on that we felt we were making progress throughout camp, and other things that we have to continue to improve upon. But I'll start with the offense. Offensively, scoring on six to seven drives to start the game off, six to seven touchdown-wise, 4-for-4 in the red zone, and you have 11 on third down. Pass protection was really good. Energy was through the roof. The running game was muddy. You know, some yards were tough to come by, loaded boxes and other stuff. We just have to continue to work on and get better. And then on defense, holding them to six points and 5-of-15 on third downs, 0-2 on fourth downs. At one point, they were 2-of-10 of 10. [Played] a lot of our players, and I think that's invaluable. Think it's priceless, and in a day and age where the seasons are long, the rosters are actually smaller nowadays from what we were allowed to a couple of years ago, it was good to see our guys got a bunch of playing time. A lot of guys showed a lot of promise. So, that being said, questions, please."
On the injury status of DB OJ Frederique: OJ suffered a pretty good, pretty significant injury, so he'll be down for quite a while.
On the offensive line: Pass protection was really good. The one miscommunication up front on the first touchdown was between the back and the offensive line, which we shored up later, and that part of it was really good. And then in the run game, there were some hits and misses, and they committed completely to loading the box as we all saw, and when they do that, you have to do what we did, which is take advantage of the capacity. So again, I think we are we're constantly looking to get better. There's no area where we felt we hit it out of the park completely, and certainly, we got right back to work with a tremendous amount of energy. But I do think that was maybe the best part of us showing up out there. We showed up there with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, and we packed Greentree and took it on the road with us. And I want to give a special shout-out to our operations team, too, because setting that whole thing up when it's not the postseason and going away for three days isn't the easiest task. And then our sports science department with Eric Renegan and our strength and conditioning program led by Erv Young-they just, along with our nutrition staff, I mean, we and they set up an unbelievable regimen for us to have our best chance at success and be at optimal levels. And to be able to get back and hop right back into work. You know, these are full-throttle practices, and it doesn't slow down. So, so probably said a lot already, but I'm just looking forward to getting in front of our fans, our people here at Hard Rock on Thursday night.
On Damari Brown replacing OJ: Damari looked good. A lot of good stuff. He's very physical. We put those guys on islands and for the most part he did a really good job. Very physical in the run game, and on pressure in terms of the young guys, a lot. You know, we played [Camdin] Portis a bunch. Brody [Jennings] come along really, really well. Ryan Mack, I think, is really playing better and better every single week. The guy we're depending upon. You guys saw J.J. Dunnigan in there. Obviously, a very physical presence. A guy that could play zone, man coverage, and stick his face in there in the run game and play in the box as well. So a lot of guys play really, really well. I like to single out Zechariah Poyser. Really played the game like a veteran that was hungry and driven to show that he can be a game-changer for us. So you saw him and Armondo Blount were Players of the Game on defense.
On how the team approach a short week: Yeah we landed at 8 a.m. I think was 8 a.m. and then by the time we got back, it was 9 a.m. So, guys took a small nap because everybody wanted to watch college football, right? And got right to that. Ate a bunch of food, graded the game, just like we would on any regular day. And then we were in here bright and early on Sunday and treated Sunday like a Monday. And then you have to subtract the day, so you subtract more of a Tuesday, Wednesday practice than anything else. So today was kind of a combination of both the same amount of reps as you would on one or the other, but a physical day today, and tomorrow is a physical day as well, but just abbreviated like you would a Thursday, and then Wednesday for us will be a Friday walkthrough and go right into the game. They had played a game before the one they played yesterday. Yesterday was delayed, so we did have some information. You do some advanced scouting and advanced prep, but again, I just-I mean, to me, look at them, Coach Gray, just a tremendous, playing career and coaching career and whatnot. And I think, he's a proven winner and he's got his guys playing at a really really high level from a physicality and effort standpoint. So preparation really doesn't change for us. We just whatever comes our way, we go with it."
On Jordan Lyle: Process is still running their course. As soon as we get an update, I'll be sure to get that to you.
On Armondo Blount: That guy, I remember being just arriving here and going over. He was at Dillard High School at the time, and always saying, 'That's a priority must get, game changer type of guy.' You know he got here young, right? He was a reclass and a reclass that came in with a shoulder injury, so a lot to catch up on. He's about as relentless as you can get as a player, and his body has exploded, right? He was a 235, 240-pound guy when he got here. He's probably tipping the scales at 275. Sometimes it's 280. He could play outside, inside, and he's technical. He's smart. He's explosive. He's strong. He plays with great and heavy hands and great feet, balance, body control, and power. And you saw him. I mean, he forced a holding call. We actually forced five, and accepted for them against a scheme that had a lot of chipping, a lot of boots and wags, rollout stuff, anything to buy the quarterback time. They try to affect our edges in a big time way. So, even though the stat line says one sack, five times they held our guys. I know we hit the quarterback a good number of times as well. So, Armando was a guy that was, along with the others, responsible for leading that charge.
On playing at Hard Rock Stadium: There’s nothing like playing in front of your people here in Miami, right? And our players, as time has gone on here, the amount of pride that has been built, that has been just appreciated here, is our hometown. Our people, our community, and the way Hard Rock gets going. It means the world to our guys when they come out to tell them that place is going bananas. And that's what we want every single week. Push the game back, I believe, till 8 o'clock, right? Game time, so that allows all these supervisors and bosses around Dade and Broward County to allow your employees to make it to Hard Rock on time, so that we can have the appropriate atmosphere. We love that we have an opportunity to bring energy and enthusiasm to the community. That means a lot to us. Like the city of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, all of South Florida, Palm Beach, the entire state, waking up, fired up, knowing that the Canes are going to go out there and do their very best for them."
On his feelings about playing at Hard Rock: I'm kind of boring when it comes to that. I guess it's more that I'm very task-oriented, so I don't. I mean, I really don't have much to say that really makes it a fun answer to the question. I'm just very focused, making sure I can do everything I can to help our organization be ready and perform at optimal levels. That's the one and only thing on my list.
On Omar Thornton: I hope you enjoyed how physical and how fast he plays. That guy loves football. The program he comes from. I believe we have how many players now, 45, players from there, and they're all cut of the same cloth. They are physical, tough, intelligent, high football IQ, high character guys. Coach Mike Smith done an unbelievable job with these guys at Heritage, and they just show up, man. They show up to work every single day. What you saw at the game is what he does in practice every single day. He forced a penalty as well when he brought pressure from the field or whatnot. So I'm beyond excited about him. He truly is a guy that he changes us with his physicality, with his style of play, and looking forward to more great play from him."
Check out everything he had to say during his Monday Press Conference down below:
Opening statements: First and foremost, I want to thank our fans that showed up in strong fashion in Palo Alto. We we felt them, we heard them. I'm glad our players got a chance to thank them after the game as well. And then our alumni, who you know, they show up for every game, and you guys see a lot of the same faces. I want to give a special shout out to guys from last year's team that showed up: C.J. Daniels, Keionte Scott, Reuben Bain, and Akheem Mesador, who on their last weekend before they start their NFL careers, they took the time to come out and and visit us, and they actually spoke to the team before we left the hotel, and got on the busses, and they were there with us the entire time, as you saw them. They are excellent coaches. So, but again, really grateful for them. I'm proud of our team for going on the road and taking care of business. A lot of things that we made progress on that we felt we were making progress throughout camp, and other things that we have to continue to improve upon. But I'll start with the offense. Offensively, scoring on six to seven drives to start the game off, six to seven touchdown-wise, 4-for-4 in the red zone, and you have 11 on third down. Pass protection was really good. Energy was through the roof. The running game was muddy. You know, some yards were tough to come by, loaded boxes and other stuff. We just have to continue to work on and get better. And then on defense, holding them to six points and 5-of-15 on third downs, 0-2 on fourth downs. At one point, they were 2-of-10 of 10. [Played] a lot of our players, and I think that's invaluable. Think it's priceless, and in a day and age where the seasons are long, the rosters are actually smaller nowadays from what we were allowed to a couple of years ago, it was good to see our guys got a bunch of playing time. A lot of guys showed a lot of promise. So, that being said, questions, please."
On the injury status of DB OJ Frederique: OJ suffered a pretty good, pretty significant injury, so he'll be down for quite a while.
On the offensive line: Pass protection was really good. The one miscommunication up front on the first touchdown was between the back and the offensive line, which we shored up later, and that part of it was really good. And then in the run game, there were some hits and misses, and they committed completely to loading the box as we all saw, and when they do that, you have to do what we did, which is take advantage of the capacity. So again, I think we are we're constantly looking to get better. There's no area where we felt we hit it out of the park completely, and certainly, we got right back to work with a tremendous amount of energy. But I do think that was maybe the best part of us showing up out there. We showed up there with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, and we packed Greentree and took it on the road with us. And I want to give a special shout-out to our operations team, too, because setting that whole thing up when it's not the postseason and going away for three days isn't the easiest task. And then our sports science department with Eric Renegan and our strength and conditioning program led by Erv Young-they just, along with our nutrition staff, I mean, we and they set up an unbelievable regimen for us to have our best chance at success and be at optimal levels. And to be able to get back and hop right back into work. You know, these are full-throttle practices, and it doesn't slow down. So, so probably said a lot already, but I'm just looking forward to getting in front of our fans, our people here at Hard Rock on Thursday night.
On Damari Brown replacing OJ: Damari looked good. A lot of good stuff. He's very physical. We put those guys on islands and for the most part he did a really good job. Very physical in the run game, and on pressure in terms of the young guys, a lot. You know, we played [Camdin] Portis a bunch. Brody [Jennings] come along really, really well. Ryan Mack, I think, is really playing better and better every single week. The guy we're depending upon. You guys saw J.J. Dunnigan in there. Obviously, a very physical presence. A guy that could play zone, man coverage, and stick his face in there in the run game and play in the box as well. So a lot of guys play really, really well. I like to single out Zechariah Poyser. Really played the game like a veteran that was hungry and driven to show that he can be a game-changer for us. So you saw him and Armondo Blount were Players of the Game on defense.
On how the team approach a short week: Yeah we landed at 8 a.m. I think was 8 a.m. and then by the time we got back, it was 9 a.m. So, guys took a small nap because everybody wanted to watch college football, right? And got right to that. Ate a bunch of food, graded the game, just like we would on any regular day. And then we were in here bright and early on Sunday and treated Sunday like a Monday. And then you have to subtract the day, so you subtract more of a Tuesday, Wednesday practice than anything else. So today was kind of a combination of both the same amount of reps as you would on one or the other, but a physical day today, and tomorrow is a physical day as well, but just abbreviated like you would a Thursday, and then Wednesday for us will be a Friday walkthrough and go right into the game. They had played a game before the one they played yesterday. Yesterday was delayed, so we did have some information. You do some advanced scouting and advanced prep, but again, I just-I mean, to me, look at them, Coach Gray, just a tremendous, playing career and coaching career and whatnot. And I think, he's a proven winner and he's got his guys playing at a really really high level from a physicality and effort standpoint. So preparation really doesn't change for us. We just whatever comes our way, we go with it."
On Jordan Lyle: Process is still running their course. As soon as we get an update, I'll be sure to get that to you.
On Armondo Blount: That guy, I remember being just arriving here and going over. He was at Dillard High School at the time, and always saying, 'That's a priority must get, game changer type of guy.' You know he got here young, right? He was a reclass and a reclass that came in with a shoulder injury, so a lot to catch up on. He's about as relentless as you can get as a player, and his body has exploded, right? He was a 235, 240-pound guy when he got here. He's probably tipping the scales at 275. Sometimes it's 280. He could play outside, inside, and he's technical. He's smart. He's explosive. He's strong. He plays with great and heavy hands and great feet, balance, body control, and power. And you saw him. I mean, he forced a holding call. We actually forced five, and accepted for them against a scheme that had a lot of chipping, a lot of boots and wags, rollout stuff, anything to buy the quarterback time. They try to affect our edges in a big time way. So, even though the stat line says one sack, five times they held our guys. I know we hit the quarterback a good number of times as well. So, Armando was a guy that was, along with the others, responsible for leading that charge.
On playing at Hard Rock Stadium: There’s nothing like playing in front of your people here in Miami, right? And our players, as time has gone on here, the amount of pride that has been built, that has been just appreciated here, is our hometown. Our people, our community, and the way Hard Rock gets going. It means the world to our guys when they come out to tell them that place is going bananas. And that's what we want every single week. Push the game back, I believe, till 8 o'clock, right? Game time, so that allows all these supervisors and bosses around Dade and Broward County to allow your employees to make it to Hard Rock on time, so that we can have the appropriate atmosphere. We love that we have an opportunity to bring energy and enthusiasm to the community. That means a lot to us. Like the city of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, all of South Florida, Palm Beach, the entire state, waking up, fired up, knowing that the Canes are going to go out there and do their very best for them."
On his feelings about playing at Hard Rock: I'm kind of boring when it comes to that. I guess it's more that I'm very task-oriented, so I don't. I mean, I really don't have much to say that really makes it a fun answer to the question. I'm just very focused, making sure I can do everything I can to help our organization be ready and perform at optimal levels. That's the one and only thing on my list.
On Omar Thornton: I hope you enjoyed how physical and how fast he plays. That guy loves football. The program he comes from. I believe we have how many players now, 45, players from there, and they're all cut of the same cloth. They are physical, tough, intelligent, high football IQ, high character guys. Coach Mike Smith done an unbelievable job with these guys at Heritage, and they just show up, man. They show up to work every single day. What you saw at the game is what he does in practice every single day. He forced a penalty as well when he brought pressure from the field or whatnot. So I'm beyond excited about him. He truly is a guy that he changes us with his physicality, with his style of play, and looking forward to more great play from him."
