Cristobal Challenges Miami’s Upperclassmen to Take Charge in 2025

Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal is relying on his upperclassmen to lead the charge for the football team heading into the 2025 season.

Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal looks on prior to the game against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

The Miami Hurricanes football team has been hard at work at spring practice, getting ready for the upcoming season. Like just about every season when it comes to college ball, a ton of veteran leaders have moved on, and that leaves a significant void in leadership. This is the time of year when those underclassmen who have graduated to upperclassmen step up and step into those leadership roles that have been left vacant. Those roles have been filled quickly and are expected to be filled fully by this class of Hurricanes this spring, based on what we are hearing. Head coach Mario Cristobal took time out this weekend after a practice session to speak about the new leadership for Hurricanes football:

“I think we’re pushing it. Our first [recruiting] class, they are now true juniors, right? So, it’s on them now. It really is. Now we have to develop that and push that. And the whole lead-by-example [approach,] that’s a bunch of BS. Leading by example is just doing what you’re supposed to be doing and keeping your mouth shut. We want the vocal part to be backed up by action. And we are seeing bits and spurts or whatnot. We are seeing hard workers. We are seeing time invested. We want to work. We want to stay away from the nonsense, the BS, and the hype and all that stuff and really understand that we play really good football teams, and we can be an excellent football team, and we’re going to keep pushing progress until we get there.”

With the leadership of this coaching staff and their first recruiting class now being juniors, this team looks to be in good hands now and moving forward. It's hard not to love hearing Cristobal talk about what he expects from his leaders and what he wants from his players moving forward.

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