Miami's 'Experience' is no Different than Indiana's ahead of the National Championship
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes have been viewed as a veteran group with players on the board who are ready to be in the NFL. It's true in some positions; in others, the Hurricanes are starting sophomores and freshmen who are making immediate impacts.
Moreover, if you come to the age of roster, No. 1 Indiana edges them out by nearly a year and by experience on the field.
AVERAGE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE
- 2025: 1.77 years (Miami), 2.16 years (Indiana)
"Ironically, we're playing against a team that is very much a veteran group, right? You're looking at a lot of similarities in the sense of players that have experience -- experience is irreplaceable," Head coach Mario Cristobal said.
Nevertheless, Cristobal isn't dwelling on that fact. The Canes have the perfect melting pot of older and younger players who are impactful on this team.
"And for us, I think it's been a great blend because the portal pick-ups combined with the players that have been here for three and four years, it again, it comes down to the fact that they're like-minded individuals, and the young talent we recruited, they are, from a DNA standpoint, they're hard-working guys. They're high achievers," Cristobal said."
"And the way that we work here, the blueprint here, the regimen here, it's very demanding. If that's not your thing, it's not going to work.
"The fact that we had all these like-minded individuals from all over the place, I mean, we're as national as Miami has ever been from a roster standpoint, all positions. But, again, it doesn't matter if you're from one mile away or 1,000 miles away; if you're made of the right stuff, you've got the right heart and the right mindset, it works."
This was the plan from Cristobal all along, but it has also shown what he promised the University of Miami when he returned to campus, this time as its head coach. It is a team built for the now and the future.
"And the team is very evenly made up of all three of those different buckets of talent," Cristobal said. "And the older guys have done a great job just doing, I would say, just bringing along, showing our younger guys what it's supposed to look like now, not later, but right now. And in terms of expediting their experience and their ability to contribute, they've been a huge part of that."
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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.