We are a little over 24 hours away from Miami Hurricanes football. Head coach Mario Cristobal spoke with Joe Zagacki alongside analyst Don Bailey Jr. ahead of the ACC clash against the Stanford Cardinal.
Check out everything he had to say before tomorrow's game.
On fall camp: It's great to be back. And the highlights are progress, right? Daily progress, being able to push people to reach their full potential, and knowing that we have made progress and still have a ways to go to fulfill what we think we can be and should be. So all in all, just ready to play football. You know what I mean? We're practicing really, really hard. We have established what we feel can be our identity and have rotated a bunch of players in there. So let's go find out.
On how Miami determines its starters: That's the best part about it. The film determines that, right? Whatever they put on tape, I mean, they all watch together with us. We watch it as a staff, but it's evaluated on a daily basis. At the end of the day, you got to put your head down at night and know who can you really trust in there on a play-by-play basis. Not a 70% guy, not an 80% guy, but a guy that's going to absolutely expend and exhaust himself trying to do the right thing, know exactly what we're doing, how to do it, why we're doing it that way, and play with max effort.
On watching Miami’s identity come together: Every year is different, right? You have a philosophy, and you always try to select players and coaches that fit that philosophy, but not everybody's the same, not every year is the same. So your identity will now be formed as the season goes on, right? You certainly can't proclaim it or tweet it or post it. You have to go earn it. But we feel that we have worked so many different things, so many different things schematically, personnel-wise, to figure out, hey, what can we do best when the lights come on? And we've rotated a bunch of players and feel very confident that we can achieve the things we want to achieve.
On Corey Hetherman and Shannon Dawson: Besides the fact that they're elite coordinators, they're elite human beings, and the fact that they always want to get better. Because consistency is great as long as it's going well. Consistency isn't if you're just at a stalemate. These guys are always digging and clawing to find ways to get better, to evolve, become more innovative, and give our players the best opportunity to make plays.
On the competition and quality of reps during camp: We're a high-rep operation. We believe that's the mother of all teaching and learning, the repetition, and we carry that beyond camp. We carry that through the season. We find pockets of time to rep even guys that might be on the service team, on the scout team, knowing that there's another 10, 12 guys that are going to help us this year and develop into those players that are going to play winning football for us. So it never, ever stops. And, those positions that have tight battles, we like to let those play out during the week, right? The best way to keep this thing going is to make sure that iron truly sharpens iron, let it play out.
On Darian Mensah’s leadership and fit at Miami: He really did. He looked like he'd been here forever. He's one of those guys that he's got the personality. He's affable, personable, but he's a grinder and a hard worker, and that's what fits here. If he wasn't, no matter how much personality he has, it wouldn't work. But he's a guy that wants to win, knows how to win, gets after it, tries to make those around him better, brings great energy on a daily basis. He checks all those boxes, and he's hungry and he's driven. So again, a lot of great stuff, a lot of stuff to be excited about. But most importantly, the work — the work, the work, the work — and go out and start proving it on game day.
On the extra development players received from making the playoffs: Anytime you get practice time, it’s invaluable, right? Because, you know, the NCAA does allow you a certain amount of practices, especially while you continue playing if you go on a deep run at the end of the season, and you have to take advantage of all of those. Plus, we had a lot of freshmen join us during that time as well. So besides practicing, they got to see some upper-level guys just run their routines and show them how to take care of their bodies, how to watch film, how to attack practice on a daily basis. In other words, they showed them the blueprint in action, right? And as we approach Game One against an excellent opponent, I think it’s very much at the forefront — the things that have to be done, how they have to be done, why we do them that way, and make sure that we actually implement our resources and our players into those systems.
On how the five-for-five rule impacts player development: We’ll see, right? We probably got to let this run a five-year cohort and see exactly how it works, because, you know, there’s always an issue at the end of the year with a handful of guys that are trying to preserve a redshirt year, and those conversations are difficult, right? Because guys want to help the team, but yet they want to preserve their year if they’re only going to play a handful of plays, and now that’s no longer a concern, right? Guys can play throughout the entire year, and you can field an entire roster, at least one as close as possible to the entire roster, as the season gets into late October, November, and December. So all in all, it’s a positive step.
On Malachi Toney’s approach heading into Stanford: The best part, he knows that we’re playing against a really good football team on Friday, and he just wants to work. He doesn’t want to talk about the past. He doesn’t want to really think about anything else but what our meeting’s going to be like tonight, how we’re going to walk through tomorrow morning, how we’re going to practice and get after it and improve in every facet.
On Mark Fletcher and Marty Brown’s leadership: The same as what we’re talking about Malachi. We all know the experience and the plays they have made, but the best part is that they are back with intent and purpose, and that purpose is to practice and prepare as good as you possibly can, push themselves, push their teammates, and get better, and that’s invaluable, right? That’s invaluable as you begin the practice week, because every week is different. Players have to prepare for different schemes, different looks, different calls, different plays. So that experience is invaluable, but the best value is all the guys we’ve just talked about. They’re just focused on practice, on meetings, on walkthroughs, and get ready for Stanford.
On the competition along the offensive line: There has been, and there will continue to be, because guys are continuing to develop. The reps are really starting off to pay off. That’s what you see, and you have to assess every single day independently of the previous day, because we’re seeing different things. Our defense is extremely challenging, right? If you go against it every single day, schematically and against those players, if you are intent on getting better, you’re going to continue to get better, and we’re seeing that from a lot of guys. So the fact that so many guys are still battling to claim playing time, a role, a starting position, is awesome. We have a good feel for who’s going to be playing, but we let it play out throughout the course of the week to make sure it’s very clear to everyone who deserves to be playing.
Check out everything he had to say before tomorrow's game.
On fall camp: It's great to be back. And the highlights are progress, right? Daily progress, being able to push people to reach their full potential, and knowing that we have made progress and still have a ways to go to fulfill what we think we can be and should be. So all in all, just ready to play football. You know what I mean? We're practicing really, really hard. We have established what we feel can be our identity and have rotated a bunch of players in there. So let's go find out.
On how Miami determines its starters: That's the best part about it. The film determines that, right? Whatever they put on tape, I mean, they all watch together with us. We watch it as a staff, but it's evaluated on a daily basis. At the end of the day, you got to put your head down at night and know who can you really trust in there on a play-by-play basis. Not a 70% guy, not an 80% guy, but a guy that's going to absolutely expend and exhaust himself trying to do the right thing, know exactly what we're doing, how to do it, why we're doing it that way, and play with max effort.
On watching Miami’s identity come together: Every year is different, right? You have a philosophy, and you always try to select players and coaches that fit that philosophy, but not everybody's the same, not every year is the same. So your identity will now be formed as the season goes on, right? You certainly can't proclaim it or tweet it or post it. You have to go earn it. But we feel that we have worked so many different things, so many different things schematically, personnel-wise, to figure out, hey, what can we do best when the lights come on? And we've rotated a bunch of players and feel very confident that we can achieve the things we want to achieve.
On Corey Hetherman and Shannon Dawson: Besides the fact that they're elite coordinators, they're elite human beings, and the fact that they always want to get better. Because consistency is great as long as it's going well. Consistency isn't if you're just at a stalemate. These guys are always digging and clawing to find ways to get better, to evolve, become more innovative, and give our players the best opportunity to make plays.
On the competition and quality of reps during camp: We're a high-rep operation. We believe that's the mother of all teaching and learning, the repetition, and we carry that beyond camp. We carry that through the season. We find pockets of time to rep even guys that might be on the service team, on the scout team, knowing that there's another 10, 12 guys that are going to help us this year and develop into those players that are going to play winning football for us. So it never, ever stops. And, those positions that have tight battles, we like to let those play out during the week, right? The best way to keep this thing going is to make sure that iron truly sharpens iron, let it play out.
On Darian Mensah’s leadership and fit at Miami: He really did. He looked like he'd been here forever. He's one of those guys that he's got the personality. He's affable, personable, but he's a grinder and a hard worker, and that's what fits here. If he wasn't, no matter how much personality he has, it wouldn't work. But he's a guy that wants to win, knows how to win, gets after it, tries to make those around him better, brings great energy on a daily basis. He checks all those boxes, and he's hungry and he's driven. So again, a lot of great stuff, a lot of stuff to be excited about. But most importantly, the work — the work, the work, the work — and go out and start proving it on game day.
On the extra development players received from making the playoffs: Anytime you get practice time, it’s invaluable, right? Because, you know, the NCAA does allow you a certain amount of practices, especially while you continue playing if you go on a deep run at the end of the season, and you have to take advantage of all of those. Plus, we had a lot of freshmen join us during that time as well. So besides practicing, they got to see some upper-level guys just run their routines and show them how to take care of their bodies, how to watch film, how to attack practice on a daily basis. In other words, they showed them the blueprint in action, right? And as we approach Game One against an excellent opponent, I think it’s very much at the forefront — the things that have to be done, how they have to be done, why we do them that way, and make sure that we actually implement our resources and our players into those systems.
On how the five-for-five rule impacts player development: We’ll see, right? We probably got to let this run a five-year cohort and see exactly how it works, because, you know, there’s always an issue at the end of the year with a handful of guys that are trying to preserve a redshirt year, and those conversations are difficult, right? Because guys want to help the team, but yet they want to preserve their year if they’re only going to play a handful of plays, and now that’s no longer a concern, right? Guys can play throughout the entire year, and you can field an entire roster, at least one as close as possible to the entire roster, as the season gets into late October, November, and December. So all in all, it’s a positive step.
On Malachi Toney’s approach heading into Stanford: The best part, he knows that we’re playing against a really good football team on Friday, and he just wants to work. He doesn’t want to talk about the past. He doesn’t want to really think about anything else but what our meeting’s going to be like tonight, how we’re going to walk through tomorrow morning, how we’re going to practice and get after it and improve in every facet.
On Mark Fletcher and Marty Brown’s leadership: The same as what we’re talking about Malachi. We all know the experience and the plays they have made, but the best part is that they are back with intent and purpose, and that purpose is to practice and prepare as good as you possibly can, push themselves, push their teammates, and get better, and that’s invaluable, right? That’s invaluable as you begin the practice week, because every week is different. Players have to prepare for different schemes, different looks, different calls, different plays. So that experience is invaluable, but the best value is all the guys we’ve just talked about. They’re just focused on practice, on meetings, on walkthroughs, and get ready for Stanford.
On the competition along the offensive line: There has been, and there will continue to be, because guys are continuing to develop. The reps are really starting off to pay off. That’s what you see, and you have to assess every single day independently of the previous day, because we’re seeing different things. Our defense is extremely challenging, right? If you go against it every single day, schematically and against those players, if you are intent on getting better, you’re going to continue to get better, and we’re seeing that from a lot of guys. So the fact that so many guys are still battling to claim playing time, a role, a starting position, is awesome. We have a good feel for who’s going to be playing, but we let it play out throughout the course of the week to make sure it’s very clear to everyone who deserves to be playing.
