Mario Cristobal on Miami’s Title Run, Darian Mensah & Building a Championship Culture

Brian Fisher for Sports Illustrated here at ACC Media Day is joined by Miami head coach Mario Cristobal.

I know you want to be focused ahead and, and, and, uh, going one and like you like to say, uh, as, as part of the season, but have you had a chance to reflect at all in terms of the, the run that you guys had last year and the special nature of it leading to the national title game?

Well , I mean, you feel the progress, you feel the momentum of the program and the university and our community and the excitement that surrounds it.

But truly, I mean the focus is so quickly turned on the next step for us as a program that our focus truly has been one to knowing just about everything that we do.

A lot of focus in terms of your team.

What, what do you see coming out of the guys, uh, from spring practice that you're, you're hopeful in going into fall camp?

I see a driven group.

I see a group that we can just hurl every ounce of, of work and toughness and challenge at them, and they have responded really, really well.

Uh, we, we're striving for consistency.

Um, we're striving to continue to connect our football team.

And to be able to just put it all together and create an identity throughout the course of camp that we can actually put on the field come the season.

You did lose a lot of key leaders that were taken in the NFL draft last year, a lot of key guys that spoke up when they needed to in terms of building your program.

Who's replacing some of those voices in the locker room in your opinion?

Well, you know what, let's let's go find out.

You know, I will not ever anoint a guy in the preseason as that guy, right?

Games have to be played.

Locker rooms have to be led, and the only way to do it is to actually go do it.

So we do, uh , we're very encouraged, very enthused by the progress of our guys as people, as leaders, as guys that are truly, um, voicing themselves and being able to galvanize that locker room, but until it's done, there's, uh, there's no predictions.

Do, do you ever get a sense.

Of like when that, when you can actually say, I know when my leaders are, is there a point in fall camp or sometime in the summer where you know, where you kind of know those are the guys I have to go to if I need to get a point across.

You feel it brewing, but you, you still need to go through adversity, right?

Because you could be all excited about a guy, but the moment you get smacked right in the teeth, what's that guy going to do?

Because if he folds and you anointed him, then shame on you.

You're going to pay the price.

So we like to make sure that our guys are, are battle tested.

And that find a way to push through and punch through and come out on the other side and help lead others through tough times.

You got a lot of key guys with you here at ACC Media Day, including your quarterback and your running back.

Talk about that backfield that you have and how much you're going to lean on them in terms of the offense this year.

A lot of experience, uh, certainly tough, driven guys, guys that, uh, they're all about their team, you know, their, their one to know mentality is really focused on making sure the guys around them are performing at the highest level.

And therefore they can also, you know, push themselves and challenge themselves to produce at the highest levels.

Those are team first guys.

Those are just genuine authentic, legit Miami Hurricanes.

So I can't wait to watch them play.

Darian Mina, another transfer quarterback for you, is that kind of just the way you're going to go at that position, or is this something that just, it's as it comes?

No, I think this was a year where we felt was the final year we need to access the portal for a quarterback.

We feel that.

The quarterback, the high school quarterback recruitment that we have done plus the incoming quarterbacks, um, are exactly what we are, are looking for, and every year's been different.

It just so happens that at that position it's been 3 successive years, but now we feel going forward we're in a really good spot and, uh, it's so different than other parts of the roster we've had to go into the portal for certain position.

But as years go on, you see us go more and more with the high school route and less and less the portal route.

I mean, Darren's success was obviously leading his team to the ACC championship last year.

Did you, did you see something on tape though that said, you know, he, he can fit in terms of what we want to do offensively?

Yeah, we saw a lot of things on tape, a lot of crossover tape with some of the opponents that we played.

Certainly a guy that can that can do it all, very accurate, tough, strong, can extend plays, is extremely accurate, can make every throw, can hurt you with his legs, great pocket presence, command of an offense, and you could see on film, you could tell people gravitate towards him with his level of play and both his stops.

So, uh, just all in all, we, uh, he has not disappointed.

In fact, he's exceeded expectations.

Is there somebody that we're not talking about on your team that we're going to know this fall?

They, they better prove it.

I will not make predictions.

I will not anoint people before they become that guy.

Well, there is that you do have that guy in terms of Malachi Tony, and we, we saw how special he was last season.

Where's the growth in his game?

We could talk about him all day.

I'm good.

I'm good with that one.

Where's his growth?

He's, he's more driven, hungrier than he's ever been before.

I mean, he took, um, the end of last year very personally and has carried that, that attitude, that demeanor over to the offseason and.

Complete professional attacks every single day with intent with purpose, and it's shown in his body's 1012 pounds heavier, more muscular, greater levels of acceleration and deceleration, better top end speed.

Physically just put together like he's never been before.

So expecting bigger and better things from Malachi Tony and not the only veteran there in the wide receiving corps either.

A lot of guys that can step up around him and even, you know , Cooper Barker, somebody who knows the quarterback as well.

A lot of experience there , you know, certainly a guy that again best friends with Darian Mina, but a guy that has produced at a really, really high level.

And another guy that's coming in has done an unbelievable job not only as a as a player, as a competitor, but as a teammate.

Do you feel like it's more settled in terms of we've had one transfer portal window and that's been a change from years past.

Do you feel like it's settling down in terms of landscape overall in terms of trying to build your roster?

I don't think there's much settled in college football .

I think we have a lot of things that we have to work out, and I think everybody is really working hard at it, um, and that's the most important thing that the intent is there, that the effort is there as well, and let's just all work together to find solutions and.

You know, complaining and making noise about it solves nothing.

Let's, let's keep putting our heads together.

Let's, let's put college football in the best place it could possibly be.

We know historically the US has always kind of had a little bit of a target on their back, but now getting to the national title game like you did last year, do you feel like you guys are, are being kind of have the target on your back even more so?

Maybe that exists in your world.

It never will exist in mine, nor will it ever exist on our football team.

We don't wake up and go to bed ever thinking like that.

We wake up and we go to bed thinking that we're going to be the hunter, and we're going to do it not by talking about it.

And uh you know, posting about it or tweeting about it, we're gonna work our butts off to make sure that every time we set foot on the field that we're the ones hunting.

When it comes to the season overall though, how, how would you define success?

Wanna know?

Wanna know all the way through?

Wanna know.

All right.

That is Mario Cristobal, the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes.

Thank you so much for joining us here at ACC Media Days with Sports Illustrated.