Here is everything head coach Mario Cristobal had to say after the team and him fount out they will play the Texas A&M Aggies in the College Football Playoffs.
On the team’s response to making the CFP…
We’ve been communicating via phone, FaceTime, text messaging, or whatnot, but we do not have a team meeting today. Our meeting is tomorrow morning, as we begin preparations. We had worked around the entire week, and this is typically a day off in their work week, so we kept the schedule as is, but you can tell by the tone of their message was, ‘hey, let’s, let’s get to work.’ Obviously, extremely happy, extremely grateful for the opportunity, but very driven to get to the task at hand.
On how the next two weeks will look regarding practice and player recovery…
We’ll begin normal preparations, as you would, two weeks out from, when you’re in camp two weeks out, or when you’re on a bye week two weeks out. So it doesn’t change. When you have the opportunity to put together two full game weeks without the game on the first week. So that saves you some of the, maybe some of the physical things that you are exposed to. But, all in all, from a preparation standpoint, you will be able to maximize the right number of practices.
On Miami’s top players having another shot to play in a meaningful game…
it’s always the goal? When we first arrived here, that was always placed as priority. So guys like that, like you mentioned, that have been here with us from the beginning. Guys have joined us as of late, too. So really, for everybody, for our entire program, every coach, every administrator, anybody involved in the University of Miami, it’s awesome. It’s why you do it, to give yourselves a chance, an opportunity to play for for national championship. And then for us, is making sure we focus on 1-0. But to those guys, it means everything to them. They’re they got to jump on film nice and early, within minutes of the announcement, so as you would expect, so just an awesome moment for them.
On the availability of standout DB Keionte Scott for the CFP run…
No, we’re not sure. We’re very hopeful. We know he’s going to be back here in the near future. Expect the near future. I cannot say exactly, but we do feel like he’s trending in the right direction. As it relates to everybody else, we feel really, really good about it. So that’s a one guy that we’re waiting for.
On the significance of Miami taking this next step as a program…
It’s validation of everything that we, I don’t know, everything that we preached, everything that we set out to do, and I say the beginning of what we set out to do. We haven’t arrived anywhere yet. We have a long ways to go. But the continued progress of our program, year after year after year, and the fact that, when you look at our recruiting class, the number of players that we’ll have coming back, the continued investment in the program, the trajectory. I mean, sky’s the limit for us. So, for us, this is a great step, but again, we’re not here just to participate, right? We want to make sure that the best version of the University of Miami is out there, like it was the last four weeks. But certainly for our program, progress is always validation, and we don’t want to stop that trajectory.
On the source of his confidence in his team’s ability to compete in the postseason…
What gives me confidence is their attitude, their effort, and their work ethic. When you approach preparation with that type of enthusiasm and energy, it typically leads to some really good things, to higher-level execution, and it really fires me up. I mean, this has been an unbelievable group to be around. It really has. They just bring it every single day. So I can’t wait to get to work with him. I mean, judging their messaging, their messages to me, I should say, it’s a group that they know. They know that for us to give ourselves the best opportunity, the best chance, we have to go to work.
On the level of passion the fan base displayed while defending the program…
That part is unbelievable. And again, coming back to Miami had nothing to do with good contract or fame or fortune, it had everything to do with making sure the University of Miami made its way back to where it was, a top the college football world. So the amount of work, the amount of people behind the work, the amount of hours, blood, sweat, tears from everybody. For them, this is awesome. This is like 23 years of right frustration now you have to back-to-back 10 win seasons and the opportunity to go and compete and play for a national championship. So I think for them, it’s awesome. I think they’ve been awesome. It’s validation, right? You, after all those hours and all that effort, you want validation that this is going in the right direction, and that’s what it does. It validates progress. Doesn’t validate final goal achieved, but it validates significant, real deal progress. So all I can say is, for everyone involved, anyone that’s part of the Miami Hurricane family, and some more people that never actually went to school here, but became part of the Miami Hurricane family, I feel awesome for them, certainly grateful for their support. All the people that do so many things behind the scenes on the front lines. There’s no need to motivate us to go to work for the University of Miami. We’re all about being a Miami Hurricane. So it’s an incredible blessing, and I can’t wait to continue working our way towards more and more progress.
On Mike Elko and Texas A&M
Big, strong, fast, explosive. You have elite playmakers in all phases, from their quarterback, their wide receivers, their defensive fronts, most sacks in the country, as explosive as you can get with the Heisman quarterback. I think their trenches really stick out right away. I mean, again, just big and physical. I know their strength coaches really, really well. I know how they train those guys are built to go deep into November, December, January, and play at a high level, just top to bottom, a team that doesn’t have weaknesses, and one that has been playing at a high level all year.
On his thoughts on Mike Elko as a coach…
Great football coach. Certainly, his teams have always played at a high level. He did a great job at Duke and certainly doing an awesome job at Texas A&M as well. His teams are physical, they’re tough, they’re very well coached and disciplined. A lot of respect for Coach Elko.
On his reaction to seeing Alabama come in at No. 9…
I mean, I gotta be honest, I still felt confident. And then, of course, you feel anxiety. No one can sit here and lie and say you weren’t nervous because when it’s not completely in your hands, those feelings kind of come in a little bit. They creep in. But yeah, when that thing popped on the screen, it was, I don’t know, like an explosion of gratitude. I don’t know if that makes sense. It just hits you, man, another monster step for us, another significant step for us. And it’s real, and to see the Miami logo, the U beside the CFP logo, that hits strong. We had about three minutes of some high fives and really strong juice, and then right to film work getting ready for the opponent. It’s awesome, man, it’s awesome. And always envisioned this opportunity for Miami. That’s why we got on the plane and came all the way across the country to be back here as part of it. To see that next step in the process become a reality is an unbelievable feeling, an undescribable feeling, and now it’s time to get to work.
On the team’s response to making the CFP…
We’ve been communicating via phone, FaceTime, text messaging, or whatnot, but we do not have a team meeting today. Our meeting is tomorrow morning, as we begin preparations. We had worked around the entire week, and this is typically a day off in their work week, so we kept the schedule as is, but you can tell by the tone of their message was, ‘hey, let’s, let’s get to work.’ Obviously, extremely happy, extremely grateful for the opportunity, but very driven to get to the task at hand.
On how the next two weeks will look regarding practice and player recovery…
We’ll begin normal preparations, as you would, two weeks out from, when you’re in camp two weeks out, or when you’re on a bye week two weeks out. So it doesn’t change. When you have the opportunity to put together two full game weeks without the game on the first week. So that saves you some of the, maybe some of the physical things that you are exposed to. But, all in all, from a preparation standpoint, you will be able to maximize the right number of practices.
On Miami’s top players having another shot to play in a meaningful game…
it’s always the goal? When we first arrived here, that was always placed as priority. So guys like that, like you mentioned, that have been here with us from the beginning. Guys have joined us as of late, too. So really, for everybody, for our entire program, every coach, every administrator, anybody involved in the University of Miami, it’s awesome. It’s why you do it, to give yourselves a chance, an opportunity to play for for national championship. And then for us, is making sure we focus on 1-0. But to those guys, it means everything to them. They’re they got to jump on film nice and early, within minutes of the announcement, so as you would expect, so just an awesome moment for them.
On the availability of standout DB Keionte Scott for the CFP run…
No, we’re not sure. We’re very hopeful. We know he’s going to be back here in the near future. Expect the near future. I cannot say exactly, but we do feel like he’s trending in the right direction. As it relates to everybody else, we feel really, really good about it. So that’s a one guy that we’re waiting for.
On the significance of Miami taking this next step as a program…
It’s validation of everything that we, I don’t know, everything that we preached, everything that we set out to do, and I say the beginning of what we set out to do. We haven’t arrived anywhere yet. We have a long ways to go. But the continued progress of our program, year after year after year, and the fact that, when you look at our recruiting class, the number of players that we’ll have coming back, the continued investment in the program, the trajectory. I mean, sky’s the limit for us. So, for us, this is a great step, but again, we’re not here just to participate, right? We want to make sure that the best version of the University of Miami is out there, like it was the last four weeks. But certainly for our program, progress is always validation, and we don’t want to stop that trajectory.
On the source of his confidence in his team’s ability to compete in the postseason…
What gives me confidence is their attitude, their effort, and their work ethic. When you approach preparation with that type of enthusiasm and energy, it typically leads to some really good things, to higher-level execution, and it really fires me up. I mean, this has been an unbelievable group to be around. It really has. They just bring it every single day. So I can’t wait to get to work with him. I mean, judging their messaging, their messages to me, I should say, it’s a group that they know. They know that for us to give ourselves the best opportunity, the best chance, we have to go to work.
On the level of passion the fan base displayed while defending the program…
That part is unbelievable. And again, coming back to Miami had nothing to do with good contract or fame or fortune, it had everything to do with making sure the University of Miami made its way back to where it was, a top the college football world. So the amount of work, the amount of people behind the work, the amount of hours, blood, sweat, tears from everybody. For them, this is awesome. This is like 23 years of right frustration now you have to back-to-back 10 win seasons and the opportunity to go and compete and play for a national championship. So I think for them, it’s awesome. I think they’ve been awesome. It’s validation, right? You, after all those hours and all that effort, you want validation that this is going in the right direction, and that’s what it does. It validates progress. Doesn’t validate final goal achieved, but it validates significant, real deal progress. So all I can say is, for everyone involved, anyone that’s part of the Miami Hurricane family, and some more people that never actually went to school here, but became part of the Miami Hurricane family, I feel awesome for them, certainly grateful for their support. All the people that do so many things behind the scenes on the front lines. There’s no need to motivate us to go to work for the University of Miami. We’re all about being a Miami Hurricane. So it’s an incredible blessing, and I can’t wait to continue working our way towards more and more progress.
On Mike Elko and Texas A&M
Big, strong, fast, explosive. You have elite playmakers in all phases, from their quarterback, their wide receivers, their defensive fronts, most sacks in the country, as explosive as you can get with the Heisman quarterback. I think their trenches really stick out right away. I mean, again, just big and physical. I know their strength coaches really, really well. I know how they train those guys are built to go deep into November, December, January, and play at a high level, just top to bottom, a team that doesn’t have weaknesses, and one that has been playing at a high level all year.
On his thoughts on Mike Elko as a coach…
Great football coach. Certainly, his teams have always played at a high level. He did a great job at Duke and certainly doing an awesome job at Texas A&M as well. His teams are physical, they’re tough, they’re very well coached and disciplined. A lot of respect for Coach Elko.
On his reaction to seeing Alabama come in at No. 9…
I mean, I gotta be honest, I still felt confident. And then, of course, you feel anxiety. No one can sit here and lie and say you weren’t nervous because when it’s not completely in your hands, those feelings kind of come in a little bit. They creep in. But yeah, when that thing popped on the screen, it was, I don’t know, like an explosion of gratitude. I don’t know if that makes sense. It just hits you, man, another monster step for us, another significant step for us. And it’s real, and to see the Miami logo, the U beside the CFP logo, that hits strong. We had about three minutes of some high fives and really strong juice, and then right to film work getting ready for the opponent. It’s awesome, man, it’s awesome. And always envisioned this opportunity for Miami. That’s why we got on the plane and came all the way across the country to be back here as part of it. To see that next step in the process become a reality is an unbelievable feeling, an undescribable feeling, and now it’s time to get to work.
