Miami Hurricanes running back Mark Fletcher joined Adam Breneman on his 'Next Up' podcast to talk about the Miami Hurricanes football program:
Adam: Mark, I appreciate you doing this, man. Excited to talk to you. Congrats on all your success so far. It was fun to watch you this past season and super fired up to sit down with you and get to know you a little bit. You know, I think back to your journey to Miami, one of the interesting things, you were committed to Ohio State. You went through the recruiting process, super highly recruited. What was the moment that you knew Miami was the place for you that you wanted to stay home?
Mark Fletcher: Really, honestly, when I took the visit, that's when I say I was kind of thinking because after I decommitted from Ohio State, you know, during that process as a recruit, there's just so much going on and you get kind of lost in it. You don't want to get too much lost in the recruiting process. And so thank God I had just, you know, a lot of people I could talk to, reach out to, help me, family members who just truly have my best interests. But still with that, at the end of the day, I just had to have a conversation with God and myself. And shoot, I just woke up one day and then, you know, I was able to take my visits. So first I went to Florida and then after that, Miami was my last visit. And I thank God that it happened out that way because even at Florida, it was like, dang, no, this is a good school too. Every school's like on the OV, right? Exactly. Exactly that. So, but now going to Miami, I said, all right, if I don't need this visit with no hesitation, I know this is the place for me. And when I went there talking to Cristobal, everything just felt like, yeah, man, I don't know what I was doing. Like, man, Miami is the place for me. And then I just went headfirst.
Adam: That's awesome. What was the Coach Cristobal reaction when you told him you were coming?
Mark Fletcher: Oh, he probably smashing his hands. He was lit. Let's go.
Adam: It's got to be fun to play for a coach like Mario Cristobal who loves offensive line play, wants to run the football, smash mouth. I mean, also we'll get fancy, but like loves to run the ball down people's throats. Was that part of your decision in coming?
Mark Fletcher: You know, it truly was because he was an old lineman. You know, he said, you know, he loved me as a runner and he seen me as a great opportunity here to come here and just do my thing and just help this program get back to where it was. And I just trusted those words and I'm still trusting it.
Adam: Yeah. You know, now at Miami, you, you're at home. You become the face of this program. I mean, when people think about Miami football now, they think about Mark Fletcher. Uh, what does that weight feel like day to day? Like, do you feel that? Do you recognize the responsibility you have of this story program that has had so many amazing players come through it, the history of Miami football. And now you're right at the pinnacle of it.
Mark Fletcher: You know, as a little boy, I always watched these great players like somebody behind the wall, Edgerrin James, you know, we in his team meeting room, watched all the greats, even defensive players, Sean Taylor, Ray Lewis. Like just all those guys I watched as a little kid. And now as little kids, you know, looking at me and I'm one of them, it's just a, it's a blessing. That's all I see. You know, privilege, it's a, it's a blessing. You know, you have that privilege to be called a hurricane, be looked at as the face of this program right now. And no, it's, it's no weight on my shoulders. I just have to come here, you know, do my job and I just, I just love doing it. I just love doing it. And I'll do anything for the school. And I, I believe they know that. And it's just a blessing. There's no stress at all.
Adam: When you got to Miami, what was the process like of fitting into college football? Like, everyone has that kind of welcome to college football moment where you're like, man, like, this is real now, your freshman year. What was yours like?
Mark Fletcher: It was that fall camp. My first fall camp, it was different. Like, waking up, because I was always an early guy, like, I could wake up early, but I don't think I was doing it like that consistently. Monday through Sunday, like, it was like, so it was probably like on a, you know, we had did the first day of fall camp. Everybody excited, you know, I'm excited. I'm getting to play football. It was probably like that Monday, Tuesday, I'm really excited. When it got to like that Wednesday, Thursday, that alarm clock, it felt like I got five minutes of sleep. Like, you couldn't have told me I had got about six hours of sleep. It felt like I got five minutes. You got to go perform. You got to. Got to. So I just woke up like, cool, boy, ****, we got to do this again. But that's all, that's all I could really say, you know, getting fit into that, you know, process. And really, what I had to get used to was not talking to my family as much, like, not being around them. I know a lot of, you know, even though I'm home, I know a lot of recruits, they went through that first, you know, fall camp. Like, when you come to school, this is really your family, this is your brotherhood. So honestly, just make sure you're choosing wisely for, you know, other little young recruits. Just choose wisely because this is a brotherhood. This becomes your home. This becomes, you know, your safe place. So that's why I had to just get adjusted to, like, okay, these people are, you know, really my family. This is who I'm going to become, you know, be my best man here. And here at Miami, like, we had the best people here and they were the same how I was in recruiting. And that was just a blessing for me.
Adam: What was the moment during your time here where it started to click for you, where you were like, man, I can do this as well as anyone in the country? Was there something that sticks out to you?
Mark Fletcher: You know, my freshman year, I think I was just getting my feet wet a little bit. Then at the end, you know, that bowl game we had, I had a big injury and I ain't gonna lie, it's like, maybe at a point in time, it was like, maybe this football thing ain't cut out for me, but I just locked in on the healing process, rehab, like crazy, trusted, you know, the trainers, whatever they have for me, and come. Coming back, we played Florida. I've never played no big SEC school like this. It's like, ****, I'm playing Florida right now. It's like crazy. I used to watch this game, but just playing that game and balling out, I think that's when I was like, okay, I could actually do something with this football thing for real.
Adam: Yeah. What was the thing that you wanted to improve on the most when you got to Miami?
Mark Fletcher: I definitely wanted to work on my speed, work on just being a, you know, just staying an elusive back. I didn't want to just be the big power back, you know, just going on third down. I wanted to just be an all-around back.
Adam: It's been talked about a lot about how your mom comes to every game and how she doesn't fly. She drives every game. What's that support mean to you, to know every game, no matter where it's at, you've got your mom in the stands supporting you?
Mark Fletcher: When she first started doing it, I was just like, okay, this is my freshman year. She's just driving to the game. You know, this is support. But, you know, my sophomore year, we traveling to like Cal, going far places. Yeah, and it was like, all right. You know, I'm telling her, all right, mom, you know, I love you. I'm probably not gonna see you this week. She's like, what do you mean I'm not gonna see you? I'm like, because, you know, you gotta fly to California, right? Like, she was like, wow, I'll see you there. I'm leaving Wednesday. I'm like, what? So when she drove to Cal, that's when I knew, like, okay, she willing to, like, do anything to just come support me and be there for me. And that means everything to me.
Alex: You know, you had every reason to leave Miami this offseason. I mean, with this era of college football, with the transfer portal, guys getting paid insane amount of money, the NFL buzz that you had, but you chose to stay here for another year. And I feel like Miami 10 years ago, guys like you were leaving and not staying. What was it about this place that made you say, I wanna do another year here at Miami?
Mark Fletcher: Well, I love what this program has gotten to. I've seen where it was before I got here, and I trusted Coach Cristobal, where is it really building back this program. And I feel like I really, and now that I'm sitting here and you asking me this question, I think that I really did it for my little self, like the kid who was watching Miami. I seen how great Miami was, seen the great players who they had, and shoot, if I could help Miami, you know, get, you know, at least a little closer to that, you know, I got one more year to do it, I would love to do that. So I feel like I'm doing what little Mark Fletcher would do. I'm making him proud. And at the end of the day, that's all I wanna do.
Alex: Was it ever even a thought process that you had of what this next year looked like, or was it, it's not even, or do you kind of have to evaluate what's out there?
Mark Fletcher: No, I did. It was a point of time where I did evaluate it like, yeah, I could, you know, make it to the league, you know, but it just, I don't think that was, that wasn't in my heart at the time, man, and it's still not. And Miami, this is the place where I wanna be.
Alex: I mean, let's talk about last season a little bit. I mean, a magical year for Miami football and where you guys got to. What was the point in last season where you realized that this team is different than, than the other teams of the past at Miami?
Mark Fletcher: Honestly, I noticed it after we lost to SMU. That's what I'll say. I noticed we different, man. We just had a big team meeting right where you're sitting at, right in here. And it was just only players only. And we all just, you know, talked to each other, looked at each other in the eyes, and we had to just make a decision, make a decision, like how far are we willing to, you know, go with this, you know? They say that we're the team, but at the end of the day, we all had to just make a grown man decision. And that's what's coming from not only the ballers that you see, but, you know, the walk-ons, like, you know, the backups, people who are challenging us in practice for them to really lock in and feed in. So when everybody just, you know, made that decision to choose in, that's when I was like, okay, yeah. All right, this is the team that's gonna do it.
Adam: Mark, I appreciate you doing this, man. Excited to talk to you. Congrats on all your success so far. It was fun to watch you this past season and super fired up to sit down with you and get to know you a little bit. You know, I think back to your journey to Miami, one of the interesting things, you were committed to Ohio State. You went through the recruiting process, super highly recruited. What was the moment that you knew Miami was the place for you that you wanted to stay home?
Mark Fletcher: Really, honestly, when I took the visit, that's when I say I was kind of thinking because after I decommitted from Ohio State, you know, during that process as a recruit, there's just so much going on and you get kind of lost in it. You don't want to get too much lost in the recruiting process. And so thank God I had just, you know, a lot of people I could talk to, reach out to, help me, family members who just truly have my best interests. But still with that, at the end of the day, I just had to have a conversation with God and myself. And shoot, I just woke up one day and then, you know, I was able to take my visits. So first I went to Florida and then after that, Miami was my last visit. And I thank God that it happened out that way because even at Florida, it was like, dang, no, this is a good school too. Every school's like on the OV, right? Exactly. Exactly that. So, but now going to Miami, I said, all right, if I don't need this visit with no hesitation, I know this is the place for me. And when I went there talking to Cristobal, everything just felt like, yeah, man, I don't know what I was doing. Like, man, Miami is the place for me. And then I just went headfirst.
Adam: That's awesome. What was the Coach Cristobal reaction when you told him you were coming?
Mark Fletcher: Oh, he probably smashing his hands. He was lit. Let's go.
Adam: It's got to be fun to play for a coach like Mario Cristobal who loves offensive line play, wants to run the football, smash mouth. I mean, also we'll get fancy, but like loves to run the ball down people's throats. Was that part of your decision in coming?
Mark Fletcher: You know, it truly was because he was an old lineman. You know, he said, you know, he loved me as a runner and he seen me as a great opportunity here to come here and just do my thing and just help this program get back to where it was. And I just trusted those words and I'm still trusting it.
Adam: Yeah. You know, now at Miami, you, you're at home. You become the face of this program. I mean, when people think about Miami football now, they think about Mark Fletcher. Uh, what does that weight feel like day to day? Like, do you feel that? Do you recognize the responsibility you have of this story program that has had so many amazing players come through it, the history of Miami football. And now you're right at the pinnacle of it.
Mark Fletcher: You know, as a little boy, I always watched these great players like somebody behind the wall, Edgerrin James, you know, we in his team meeting room, watched all the greats, even defensive players, Sean Taylor, Ray Lewis. Like just all those guys I watched as a little kid. And now as little kids, you know, looking at me and I'm one of them, it's just a, it's a blessing. That's all I see. You know, privilege, it's a, it's a blessing. You know, you have that privilege to be called a hurricane, be looked at as the face of this program right now. And no, it's, it's no weight on my shoulders. I just have to come here, you know, do my job and I just, I just love doing it. I just love doing it. And I'll do anything for the school. And I, I believe they know that. And it's just a blessing. There's no stress at all.
Adam: When you got to Miami, what was the process like of fitting into college football? Like, everyone has that kind of welcome to college football moment where you're like, man, like, this is real now, your freshman year. What was yours like?
Mark Fletcher: It was that fall camp. My first fall camp, it was different. Like, waking up, because I was always an early guy, like, I could wake up early, but I don't think I was doing it like that consistently. Monday through Sunday, like, it was like, so it was probably like on a, you know, we had did the first day of fall camp. Everybody excited, you know, I'm excited. I'm getting to play football. It was probably like that Monday, Tuesday, I'm really excited. When it got to like that Wednesday, Thursday, that alarm clock, it felt like I got five minutes of sleep. Like, you couldn't have told me I had got about six hours of sleep. It felt like I got five minutes. You got to go perform. You got to. Got to. So I just woke up like, cool, boy, ****, we got to do this again. But that's all, that's all I could really say, you know, getting fit into that, you know, process. And really, what I had to get used to was not talking to my family as much, like, not being around them. I know a lot of, you know, even though I'm home, I know a lot of recruits, they went through that first, you know, fall camp. Like, when you come to school, this is really your family, this is your brotherhood. So honestly, just make sure you're choosing wisely for, you know, other little young recruits. Just choose wisely because this is a brotherhood. This becomes your home. This becomes, you know, your safe place. So that's why I had to just get adjusted to, like, okay, these people are, you know, really my family. This is who I'm going to become, you know, be my best man here. And here at Miami, like, we had the best people here and they were the same how I was in recruiting. And that was just a blessing for me.
Adam: What was the moment during your time here where it started to click for you, where you were like, man, I can do this as well as anyone in the country? Was there something that sticks out to you?
Mark Fletcher: You know, my freshman year, I think I was just getting my feet wet a little bit. Then at the end, you know, that bowl game we had, I had a big injury and I ain't gonna lie, it's like, maybe at a point in time, it was like, maybe this football thing ain't cut out for me, but I just locked in on the healing process, rehab, like crazy, trusted, you know, the trainers, whatever they have for me, and come. Coming back, we played Florida. I've never played no big SEC school like this. It's like, ****, I'm playing Florida right now. It's like crazy. I used to watch this game, but just playing that game and balling out, I think that's when I was like, okay, I could actually do something with this football thing for real.
Adam: Yeah. What was the thing that you wanted to improve on the most when you got to Miami?
Mark Fletcher: I definitely wanted to work on my speed, work on just being a, you know, just staying an elusive back. I didn't want to just be the big power back, you know, just going on third down. I wanted to just be an all-around back.
Adam: It's been talked about a lot about how your mom comes to every game and how she doesn't fly. She drives every game. What's that support mean to you, to know every game, no matter where it's at, you've got your mom in the stands supporting you?
Mark Fletcher: When she first started doing it, I was just like, okay, this is my freshman year. She's just driving to the game. You know, this is support. But, you know, my sophomore year, we traveling to like Cal, going far places. Yeah, and it was like, all right. You know, I'm telling her, all right, mom, you know, I love you. I'm probably not gonna see you this week. She's like, what do you mean I'm not gonna see you? I'm like, because, you know, you gotta fly to California, right? Like, she was like, wow, I'll see you there. I'm leaving Wednesday. I'm like, what? So when she drove to Cal, that's when I knew, like, okay, she willing to, like, do anything to just come support me and be there for me. And that means everything to me.
Alex: You know, you had every reason to leave Miami this offseason. I mean, with this era of college football, with the transfer portal, guys getting paid insane amount of money, the NFL buzz that you had, but you chose to stay here for another year. And I feel like Miami 10 years ago, guys like you were leaving and not staying. What was it about this place that made you say, I wanna do another year here at Miami?
Mark Fletcher: Well, I love what this program has gotten to. I've seen where it was before I got here, and I trusted Coach Cristobal, where is it really building back this program. And I feel like I really, and now that I'm sitting here and you asking me this question, I think that I really did it for my little self, like the kid who was watching Miami. I seen how great Miami was, seen the great players who they had, and shoot, if I could help Miami, you know, get, you know, at least a little closer to that, you know, I got one more year to do it, I would love to do that. So I feel like I'm doing what little Mark Fletcher would do. I'm making him proud. And at the end of the day, that's all I wanna do.
Alex: Was it ever even a thought process that you had of what this next year looked like, or was it, it's not even, or do you kind of have to evaluate what's out there?
Mark Fletcher: No, I did. It was a point of time where I did evaluate it like, yeah, I could, you know, make it to the league, you know, but it just, I don't think that was, that wasn't in my heart at the time, man, and it's still not. And Miami, this is the place where I wanna be.
Alex: I mean, let's talk about last season a little bit. I mean, a magical year for Miami football and where you guys got to. What was the point in last season where you realized that this team is different than, than the other teams of the past at Miami?
Mark Fletcher: Honestly, I noticed it after we lost to SMU. That's what I'll say. I noticed we different, man. We just had a big team meeting right where you're sitting at, right in here. And it was just only players only. And we all just, you know, talked to each other, looked at each other in the eyes, and we had to just make a decision, make a decision, like how far are we willing to, you know, go with this, you know? They say that we're the team, but at the end of the day, we all had to just make a grown man decision. And that's what's coming from not only the ballers that you see, but, you know, the walk-ons, like, you know, the backups, people who are challenging us in practice for them to really lock in and feed in. So when everybody just, you know, made that decision to choose in, that's when I was like, okay, yeah. All right, this is the team that's gonna do it.
