A night of recruiting with Mario Cristobal: Miami coach speaks at Lakeland Lake Gibson, home to 5-star CB Cormani McClain
By
Manny Navarro 4h ago
LAKELAND, Fla. — We’re four months in, and Mario Cristobal still hasn’t had a good night’s sleep.
It’s not that he hasn’t closed his eyes. He does usually for about three to four hours sometime after midnight when he’s done texting with recruits. But the Miami Hurricanes’ 51-year-old head football coach — who jokes he has a scuba tank of Cuban coffee attached to him and his assistants at all hours — doesn’t hide the fact he’s been working relentlessly since signing a 10-year, $80 million deal to resurrect the football program he bled for.
“There’s still so much to do,” he tells
The Athletic as he fumbles the handwritten notes of a speech he’s going to deliver to Lakeland Lake Gibson’s football team at their end of the season banquet.
Cristobal wants to share details of what this whirlwind has been like trying to build a program that’s not just better than the one Manny Diaz, Mark Richt, Al Golden, Randy Shannon and Larry Coker had before him, but also hopefully good enough to topple the ones Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Ryan Day and Jimbo Fisher have going.
He’s trying to convince Hall of Famer Jason Taylor to join his staff, and has interviewed countless other coaches to help join his fight, with a spending budget no Hurricanes coach has ever had. But he just doesn’t have time to get into it all on this night.
There’s a line of Hurricanes fans forming inside Free Life Chapel on this Tuesday evening, and they’re asking him to take pictures with them and sign their footballs and helmets as he waits to take the stage.
“People around here don’t have a lot of patience for a coach when it comes to hiring a staff, do they?” Cristobal says with a grin.
It’s March 1, the first day high school recruits can set foot back on college campuses following the recruiting dead period. College coaches aren’t allowed to be on high school campuses until May, but Cristobal has found a way to skirt the rules (by being a guest speaker off campus) in his quest to show Cormani McClain, the No. 1-ranked cornerback recruit in the 2023 cycle, how much he wants him.
Polk County has produced its fair share of elite football players over the years. Miami got its best in Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis. But the county, which sits right on Interstate-4, the imaginary line the late Howard Schnellenberger used to set as the border for the “State of Miami,” usually sends its best players these days to Florida State (Derwin James, Karlos Williams) and Florida (
Gervon Dexter, and Maurkice and Mike Pouncey).
Lake Gibson coach Keith Barefield worked for new Florida coach Billy Napier for 21 months as a defensive analyst at Louisiana between 2020 and 2021. When Barefield found out Napier had agreed to be the guest speaker at rival Lakeland High’s banquet on Wednesday night, he immediately called Cristobal to ask him if he’d like to speak to his team.
“The best thing about Mario is he can relate to anybody on a deep level,” Barefield said. “He can make anybody laugh. He can make anybody feel important. The reason I asked him to come here more than anything is I liked hanging out with him and I wanted to hang out with him more.
“Billy has a lot of those same qualities, too. He does a great job, too. There are some things they do better than others. I won’t get into that too much. But Mario is a fun guy to hang out with. One thing I will say is before Mario was in Miami, I never heard a word from Miami.”
Lakeland Lake Gibson coach Keith Barefield invited Miami coach Mario Cristobal to speak at his team’s awards banquet after his former boss at Louisiana, Florida coach Billy Napier, decided to speak at rival Lakeland High. (Manny Navarro / The Athletic)
McClain (6-2, 170 pounds) is a superstar worth fighting for. He has accumulated 19 interceptions as a sophomore and junior, and has every bit the size, speed, and cover skills to be standing next to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during the first round of the 2026 draft. He’s the kind of player Cristobal and Napier and Florida State coach Mike Norvell need to keep home if the Hurricanes, Gators and Seminoles are ever going to win a national championship again.
Former Canes cornerback coach DeMarcus Van Dyke, who passed on offers from FIU and other programs to stay on as defensive backs analyst for Cristobal following the coaching change, has built a great relationship with McClain since Miami offered him a scholarship in February 2021.
Tuesday, Van Dyke accompanied Cristobal on a private jet to Lakeland along with new defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae and staffer
Dennis Smith to establish a strong presence for Miami. Addae was recruiting McClain to Georgia when he was on Smart’s staff until last month. It’s no coincidence Cristobal wanted two coaches with strong relationships with McClain on his staff after Travaris Robinson left Miami for Alabama.
“Two dudes I’ve talked to the most — that’s dangerous,” McClain responded when asked how much it helps Miami to have both Van Dyke and Addae on staff. “Coach Addae, we come from the same environment. He’s from Valrico (Fla.). We click.”
When McClain went down to South Florida with Barefield in January for Elite Prospect Day, Addae hadn’t been hired yet. So McClain spent a lot of time building his relationship with Cristobal.
“We haven’t gotten there yet, but he’s a great dude. The first time we met each other, we clicked,” McClain said. “I think he’s a great coach and a great leader. We spent half of the day together (at Elite Prospect Day). He showed us some clips of how they process and recruit kids and how they get them to the next level. He showed me some nice things.”
Which schools does McClain feel like he has the best relationships with to this point?
“Alabama, Michigan, Florida, Miami, Georgia, BYU, Ohio State and USC,” he said.
Five-star cornerback Cormani McClain, the top recruit in the state in the 2023 cycle, has Miami among his top teams, along with Alabama, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, BYU, Ohio State and USC. His mother, Kaishay, said they’ll be at Alabama this weekend. (Manny Navarro / The Athletic)
McClain, who plays for the South Florida Express 7-on-7 team, hasn’t announced where he will be taking official visits later this summer, but his mother, Kaishay, shared on social media that she and her son will visit Alabama unofficially this coming weekend. There’s reportedly also a scheduled trip to Florida on March 18-20.
Brett Goetz said McClain is going with him and the South Florida Express to Los Angeles, where they’ll visit USC and potentially UCLA (March 11-13) and then Ohio State in the beginning of April.
“Athleticism, great ball skills and just a humble kid,” Goetz said of McClain. “Kids love him, get along with him well. To me, he’s just a really good team guy.”
Kaishay declined an interview Tuesday but told The Athletic her son is filming a documentary of his recruitment and senior year and doesn’t want to say too much. On social media, Kaishay shared videos of the players and coaching staff who sent the family Happy Birthday videos for her son’s birthday on Feb. 26.
Miami’s staff, meanwhile,
sent her a birthday card for her 43rd birthday a week prior.
Aside from those relationships, Miami has a wild-card in Polk County — former Canes receiver Lance Leggett, who graduated from a small Texas private school but grew up in the area and has built a friendship with the McClain family.
“I’m helping a lot with getting Cormani. It’s something I feel like I have to do,” Leggett said. “I’m tired of Florida State and Florida taking our players. I was Coach Cristobal’s first recruit when he came back to Miami (as an assistant). He was honest. I loved the type of energy he gives off. With Cormani, I think we’re No. 1.”
Leggett said he’s the one who reached out to Van Dyke to get Miami to start recruiting him “before he blew up.”
“When Cristobal got the job, the second day he texted me,” Leggett said. “Less than 24 hours later, he was on a plane here.”
On Tuesday, Cristobal took the stage for roughly 20 minutes after Barefield introduced him as “an elite recruiter.”
“I brought him for a reason,” Barefield told his team. “I was a career college coach before I got here and one of the coolest things I got to do as a high school coach last year was observe who was recruiting our players.
“I finally got a chance to see the difference between a great recruiter, a bad recruiter and an elite recruiter and the difference to me is an elite recruiter just enjoys being there and the company he’s with. It’s known why he’s there, but he wants to sit there, talk, and enjoy being with you. When Coach Cristobal first walked into our office, I had an idea of who this big, tough, smashmouth football guy was. But by the time he left my office, I wanted to hang out with him.”
McClain was sitting directly in front of Cristobal — in the first row — when Miami’s coach took the stage. McClain’s mom was seated in the row behind him.
Cristobal spoke about being the son of Cuban immigrants and why he got into coaching (the inspiration from his high school coach Dennis Lavelle). He shared photos from Oregon’s big win over Ohio State in Columbus last year — when Lavelle was in attendance.
He discussed building a culture through hard work, playing physical and how skill players can set the tone in that, it doesn’t just have to be linemen.
He talked about agreements between coaches and players, and showed a picture of Canes safety
Avantae Williams pushing a sled with “a little snot” dangling from his face.
“The power of choice is big in this,” Cristobal said. “You have to allow yourself to be pushed. Culture is not a T-shirt, a tagline, a switch you turn on and off. Culture here is 100 percent real. How you do everything is how you do anything. There’s not one culture for football, one for academics. There’s the same one all the time.”
As Cristobal spoke about culture, Smith played a video clip of the late great Sean Taylor delivering a huge hit in the Pro Bowl. It drew applause.
“This kind of personifies that,” Cristobal said.
“If you’re going out to Texas to recruit the No. 1 receiver in the country, make sure you make the best impression, by being honest, by being real, and making sure the word you give that family about work, school, it’s real. You’re going to hold yourself to it. Have you guys ever seen Damian Lillard? I used to live out in Oregon on the other side of the country. He used to come visit us and had a couple words of accountability I thought I’d share quickly.”
The sound of the Lillard clip didn’t play and Smith — with his colorful sneakers — ran up to the computer on stage to fix it. The sound didn’t work. Cristobal quickly pivoted.
“That’s OK. I’ll send that clip to you guys, so you have it,” Cristobal said as he switched the conversation to medicine balls and offseason workouts and preparing for next season. “I put this on our wall, our refrigerator: How you do anything is how you do everything. Don’t even bother to do something until you get it right. Do it until you can’t get it wrong. Do it so many times and do it well, so by the time it’s live action there’s nothing that can stop it.”
Cristobal then flashed a photo on screen of former Hurricanes great Ed Reed, and how he won a Super Bowl and he’s a good example for his players at Miami. He ended his speech with a photo of the state championship trophy, and how championship teams are built with relentless work ethic.
“Jimmy Johnson was one of the greatest mentors we ever had. He used to speak about this all the time — get on edge and stay on edge,” Cristobal said before wrapping up his speech.
Mario Cristobal delivered a 20-minute speech at the Free Life Chapel in Lakeland Tuesday. He signed autographs and took photos with fans. Miami opens spring practice next Monday. (Manny Navarro / The Athletic)
The Hurricanes open spring practice next Monday.
Cristobal made it a point to invite Barefield and Lake Gibson’s staff to attend a few practices. He went over a list of guest speakers who will be visiting Miami this spring — including Johnson.
Does Cristobal expect to get emotional being back on Greentree and going through a practice?
“I never do,” Cristobal said. “When I retire, I’ll get emotional. There’s no time for emotions. What did Jesse The Body say, ‘I ain’t got time to bleed?’ Right now, it’s go time. There’s a lot I’m excited about. I’m excited to challenge our guys and see our level of work ethic, physicality, and want-to. I’m excited to see a team grow, learn, galvanize, respond. We’re going to throw all kinds of adversity at them.
“Spring football at Miami means something. It’s not a way to pass the time. It is real. We’re going full-throttle practices. We’re going to be smart, obviously. We’re going to know schematically what our system entails. There’s a lot. I’m excited to coach, mentor and see responses. I love practice. Always have.”
Not everyone will be practicing full-go or taking part in contact drills because of postseason surgeries. Cristobal wasn’t ready to share who was on that list Tuesday but said we’ll find out soon.
Part of the reason Cristobal hasn’t gotten much sleep is because he’s restructuring Miami’s recruiting department. Diaz took it a step further after he took over for Richt, but it’s still not where Cristobal wants it. So he has spent lots of time and energy his first four months guiding it to where he wants it to go, setting the example of how he wants his coaches to recruit and divvying up responsibilities. Part of that process has been deciding on the right coaches.
Cristobal still hasn’t formally announced who will coach tight ends, nor has he hired a defensive ends coach. He’s in no rush either. He said he has enjoyed the hiring process with his staff and continues to.
“To me, I enjoy the hiring process as much as I enjoy recruiting. I like detailed and thorough searches, finding guys who have to be about it for us,” Cristobal said. “You know how I feel about Miami. This is life for me. You have to bring in people that are going to feel the same way and are willing to work in the same way that it requires. That’s not for everybody. I love the guys we have now. So far, it’s been such a big, exciting, intense environment during the Fourth Quarter program. Guys with high-level IQ and acumen. I like the process of hiring these final pieces. I like expanding it, keep finding and seeing who is best. We ask players to compete. I ask coaches to compete. Let’s find the best guys.”
