'He's Become Serious About Football': Marquise Lightfoot's Rise Stems From His Inner Self
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — After the departure of two first-round picks, the Miami Hurricanes were fully confident in the next group coming in.
Armondo Blount and Marquise Lightfoot showed flashes of greatness last season, and this season they have lived up to the billing. Moreover, Lightfoot has started to grow into his own as one of the best pass rushers in the ACC and on the team.
It was expected to become as good as he is now, but it took time. Getting "serious about football" was the first step, and head coach Mario Cristobal has seen it come to fruition.
He's become serious about football," Cristobal said. "I think early, you have two really good players, right? The guys that were here last year, and you have a really talented guy coming in, and sometimes they get it and they're still full bore, like, let's go.
"And then others, sometimes they drift a little bit. I think he drifted a little bit, not out of, not being malicious, but just being young and getting working through immaturity. But awesome mom who hammers him as hard as you can imagine, and a guy that loves football and loves being at the University of Miami. And then the more he was around, Mesidor and Bain, they really started affecting him here and here, and then you start seeing the habits change.
"His body change, his investment in the weight room change. And now you're seeing a guy that, you know, he's often mistaken because he looks thin. You know, he's getting close to 240 pounds now, which is not a giant, but for him, that's a lot. His levels in the weight room, his metrics are off the charts. And he sticks his face in there and plays with physicality and getting better. He’s doing a much better job. He still has a lot to work on, but we're really proud of him and with his progress.
"But we challenge him daily. Like there's no, like he doesn't—we don't let him come up for air. Like it's right back at it, go, go, go. And you know what? He appreciates it. He's up to the challenge, and he's looking forward to going out there to practice tomorrow and getting better."
His best game of the season came against Central Michigan forcing a fumble with a massive sack and added another while he was in the game. This season, he has four sacks, 17 tackles, and one forced fumble.
This is what he expected of himself this season, but he also understood that he had to improve himself as a player on and off the field.
"The work ethic, understanding that I'm a football player at the end of the day, and I got to prioritize everything that goes into that, which is my health and how I eat," Lightfoot said. "I'm a defensive end, I'm gaining weight, so a lot goes into that. But I just say work ethic mainly."
Lightfoot has become one of the defensive leaders in the program. Living up to a standard and sets the tone, and pushes the Canes to improve on the defensive side of the ball.
"We believe that we can continue to just continue growing as a defense," Lightfoot said. "Like we haven't showed or thrown our best punch yet at all. So we seen this, we know this. So we just gonna continue just getting better and playing together as a team on defense."
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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