Full Transcript: Mario Cristobal's Monday Press Conference Before Louisville
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Before diving into the details heading into Miami's game versus Louisville, it was a great start to the Mario Cristobal press conference with positive news about true freshman quarterback Emory Williams after he had to be carted off the field against the Florida State Seminoles.
The Miami Hurricanes head coach also offered that quarterback Tyler Van Dyke would be the starting signal caller, although backup Jacurri Brown would be the backup and receive significant reps during this week's Miami practices.
Cristobal’s opening statement: "With preparations for a great opportunity, this coming Saturday against the top 10 team. In Louisville, (it’s) very explosive on offense, very disruptive on defense. Top five, top 10, uh, statistically on defense in just about every single category and offensively anywhere from top five to top 20 in every category as well.
"So a very complete team, a lot of good football players and a great opportunity for us and again, a day of, uh of really, really good preparation so far."
So questions, please.
Q: It was reported that Emory was having surgery today and, um, just wanted to know how he is and, when first how he is and then also when might he return to the team? Even as an observer at practice or, or a game?
Cristobal: He's doing well, you know, as you guys saw he had a significant injury on Saturday. And obviously, procedures, we keep those things to ourselves, what gets out there gets out there.
But, you know, it's not really, you know, what we’re doing. We keep that stuff private.
He's doing great. He'll be full-go for spring practice. And he's a tough guy. He really is. Tough guy that this means a lot to him. he's got the full support of his teammates.
(I) saw him this morning, (and) I’ll see him again here in a little bit. So, very proud of him for his effort and proud of him for the way he handled everything from the week itself to the game itself and then dealing with you know, his circumstances.
Q: He's got a really good attitude, hasn't he?
Cristobal: Never had a better kid.
How’d he get that substantially injured, the play where he had to get that last inch to give you guys a chance to keep that last drive going? Just what does that say about him?
Cristobal: Uh, I think it says a lot about him says a lot about football, you know. Football is the ultimate competitive opportunity in sport, and it can be unforgiving at times, right?
It'll push you to your limits and beyond. And it's gonna force you to, to deal with adversity, you know? And you're gonna have a breakthrough or you're gonna have a breakdown. Guys like that, they find a way to break through. And to him, that's all he wanted to know.
Besides, you know, (Williams) being in a little bit of pain, ‘did I get the first down, did I get the first down? What's up with the replay?’
I think he embodies a lot of the guys that you guys have a chance to meet and speak with. Just feel like the DNA is right and the DNA is improving on a daily basis around here.
Q: Reasonable to assume that for example, competition this week to figure out which you play?
Cristobal: it's all reasonable because we're gonna compete in everything, every single week, um, at just about every position. But Tyler is gonna be the starting quarterback going in.
Jaccuri (Brown) is gonna compete. Jacurri is gonna get a lot of reps and he's a really good player.
Q: You've talked even very complimentary about Tyler. You know, through this whole thing and his struggles this year, just got the kind of the kind of zigzag, of being a starter, and getting sat down last week, coming back into the last part of the last drive of the game. Now starting again on Saturday, how is he going to handle that?
Cristobal: A quarterback at Miami is… you gotta be tough, you know, you gotta have thick skin, you gotta be a competitor. He's all that he handled last week like a pro which means disappointed, upset. (He) really fought hard all week and it was a great week of practice by both guys.
In fact, at the end of the week. So I felt like, man, we've made a lot of progress. I felt like as a staff, and players together, we did a better job of putting things together knowing it was gonna be a difficult team to move the ball against, particularly through the air where they had excelled.
Um, but because of his performance last week, because of his determination, his past successes, you know, that's what your job as a coach is…is to provide clarity, remove the clutter, and make people better.
Um, and he is. He's done really, really well. He's handled everything really well and he has the confidence of his teammates and coaches.
Q: I know it's been a year since we've seen Jaccuri on the field in a game.But what stands out and what do you remember maybe about his performance against Georgia Tech last year? And, and how he developed since then?
Cristobal: He's developed in a lot of different ways as it relates to. Not only, you know, everybody talks about, he's a good athlete and whatnot, but he's developed as a passer.
I mean, going through his progressions, being accurate with the football, understanding the offense, understanding how to get us in and out of plays, (his) understanding of protections.
You know, because extending plays, yeah, some of it is natural but some of it is understanding.
Okay, we're kind of, we're in a rough spot here, but if I could hang in there and use my eyes to pull this particular defender out so that I could find a way to get through, maybe flatten out and get the ball down the field.
I can continue to evolve in that way. And, you know, he played last year. The whole thought going into this year is like, hey, if we could, you know, with Tyler being the starting quarterback on the season, if we could find a way to preserve a red shirt, we could.
It would be great for all of us because he has such a bright future here at Miami. And then the last couple of weeks, it was kind of muddy and, you know, Emory had received a lot of the preparation time.
So that's the route we went to. So that being said, yeah, he continues to get better and better. He's got natural leadership skills.
Uh, you saw some of flash last year, like you mentioned in the Georgia Tech game, both throwing the football running the football and improvising, extending plays. and he'll be doing that all week in practice again. He's very much competing and working really hard.
Q: Speaking of another person who can deal with injuries for a long time. Zion Nelson, I haven’t seen him dress or anything. Do you know what the situation is? Is he gonna be able to get back on the field at some point in his career, you know, what is status is going to be?
Cristobal: I think he is. I know he's frustrated. He’s a great human being, by the way. And he's a really good football player as well. The nature of his injury just requires time, you know, time and tweaks and I can't get into specific detail as to what that is.
But when you're a big body, um you wanna make sure you get it right. Just because those guys have so much more stress, right?
So much more power and force in all their movements. So, uh, we feel very confident that we're gonna get there. It's certainly taken longer, you know, than all of us would have ever wanted or expected.
Um, but whatever time it takes we're willing to, for him, number one, right? You want to do what's best for the student-athlete and, and for the team too because the moment he gets healthy; he's an instant boom for the offensive line, for our team.
Q: Being a head coach, there’s always recruiting players, and in this point in the season, where head coaches are losing their jobs. And that means assistant coaches are, they can talk about it. How much do you communicate with guys about opportunities?
Cristobal: I mean, it's your job to help guys get an opportunity that if they really want it, you know?
Because I've had great coaches that I've worked for that when something came about, they might give me a hard time,but if they knew it was something I wanted, they eventually would come around and help me out.
So I do believe in that. And at the same time, it's no different than your organizational chart for your players. You keep one on coaches around the country because, and that thing evaporates quickly as well, right?
It's almost, it's a race and, but it's a race where you have to be patient too because sometimes, you know, the person and sometimes you might be on your chart where they have great reputation, pretty good statistically, but I don't know them.
How is this thing gonna fit?
And, you know, a lot of the progress that we're having is because of the fit and the people, you know, people that wanna be here, people are willing to work hard that understand that like, um, you know, to go where we wanna go.
You have to be fully invested, and that's why things are moving in the direction, you know, that we want to go and gotta keep. Understand, we gotta keep getting better and better and better.
So, uh, this time of year it's, you know, it's always crazy. Always has been, (and) always will be. I think you just deal. It's no different than a penalty on the field.
Well, let me not go there it's no different than a situation on the field that you gotta handle. Um, you know, turnover or something else.
You just, you deal with it and you go invest in all those things.
Q: (Inaudible)
We all…no one knows where college football is headed, right? It's just ever-changing. Um, you know, I don't judge, I don't judge that those moments come and whatnot and I've seen it happen before.
I've experienced it before. Um, you just don't judge, you just do whatever is best for the team. That's all that matters. You know, at the end of the day when you put your head down at night for the few minutes, you get to put it down at night, you do it knowing that no matter what at all costs you're doing what's very best for the team.
Nothing else, nothing else can override that.
Q: You started five, I think it was 5 true freshmen this past weekend. Arguably, I guess your biggest game of the season. What does that say about the opportunity you'll give to freshmen who earn it, and also about the foundation of where things are moving for the future?
Cristobal: You know, actually Riley was in our series two or three, you know, we were planning on, on starting in six (freshmen). I think that's a couple of things.
Number one, confidence. Two, their development. Three, the caliber of players that we're bringing into the program, right? Which is Miami caliber players. That was always the case, right?
And Miami should be littered with classes stacked like that. It's our first full class. They've worked hard; they've earned it. Some guys were here mid-year, some guys got here in the summer.
Mark Fletcher got here in the summer. Damari Brown got here in the summer. That's hard, you know,to be able to turn that thing around and get the starting position.
What CC plays, Francis, what he played, that's hard. You know, I know he was here mid-year, but it's hard to go and play in that environment where you can't hear the snap count and you're going against, you know, some guys that are third, fourth, and fifth-year players.
So, it's a testament to them. It's a testament to the leaders that have helped groom them to their coaching as well and to their commitment to preparation. So it's exciting.
I mean, call it what it is, you know. Are we always gonna be very upset? We're gonna be beyond, um just gut wrenching pain when we don't achieve our goal.
But the best way to describe, the sentiment in the locker room, is driven. Driven.
Q: How far does the team come compared to when you got here? Just from a physical standpoint?
Cristobal: Yeah, I mean, miles, you know, stratospheres really. Um, you always wanna see where you are in the trenches because that's the hardest part to develop because if you can't block or you can't knock back the line of scrimmage and tackle…
That takes two or three years to develop. I know the (Transfer) Portal changed that some, right?
You know, you could find some more mature bodies, but you still have to hit on those bodies. And if any part of a roster is protected by programs, it's the trenches, right?
Seldom do you see high-level trench guys, you know, bounce around Transfer Portal-wise. So, um that was an area that was just uh glaringly lacking, you know.
And they showed up in short-yardage and goal-line situations a year ago, we couldn't, you know, couldn't run the ball very well. (We) couldn't protect the passer very well, couldn't defend the run very well and it starts up front.
So yeah, it's, it's a, it's a tremendous turnaround in all phases and not only um an influx of talent but also really player development. A lot of guys that had been here or just got here, really worked hard to develop great core strength, great power, right?
Hips, legs, you know, upper body striking, block destruction, unlocking hips, running feet through contact. So, you know, kind of go off on a tangent there.
But, you know what I mean? It's the most important, and it's the hardest part to develop. So we're really enthused about that progress there because that could lead to all the other stuff. You know, when you look (back) on Saturday, if you broke down the difference in the game, statistically, the game was pretty even, right?
There were a couple really mature (Transfer) Portal skill guys who made some critical plays down the stretch, you know, for the other team. And credit to them for doing that.
I don't take it away from them. They made those plays. Our guys are getting better and we're gonna keep finding ways to get better and keep finding ways to be more impactful and bring in more impactful guys at all positions.
Q: You mentioned Damari (Brown) who had obviously, a really important job starting in that game. How did you feel like he and Jadais (Richard) played?
Cristobal: They were excellent. Those guys were excellent big, they're fast, they're physical, they're fearless. You know, they did a really good job and a lot of contested throws as well.
Some of the timing, you know, back shoulder things, those are hard, man, you know, those nine(-route) stops.
When that ball is thrown into a player with a catch radius as big as you'll see in college or pro football, those are hard. Tut those guys battled, they were physical, they never shielded away. You know, and the plays that, that they did give up were plays that, you know, the other team had to scratch and claw for so really proud of them, both of them.
And I really let them know. We all let them know really proud of them for their efforts. Bright futures.
Q: Have you gotten an explanation on the safety? And do you expect an explanation on the safety? I didn't ask you if it was the safety (laughing).
Let's catch,
let's catch a little Cuban coffee a little later this week (Cristobal smiling big). You can call later this week or something like that.
Q: What can that type of game do for Jacolby George in terms of confidence and development moving forward?
Cristobal: You know, he's developing so much and, you know, I've said it before, I'm gonna push him hard because he's got a lot. He carries a lot of responsibility and he really is an awesome young man.
He's a guy where the sky is the limit. And you know, the more he develops, the more you're gonna see that of him, you know, he’s got great wiggle, he's got unbelievable balance and body control.
He could track the ball and when you have a game like that against a secondary in tough situations like that, that long one. I don't know if you saw the way he leaned into it, laid hands and then still through some obstruction, found a way to catch it.
It's high-level stuff that, that route down there, the delayed fade down at the goal line. That's hours and hours and the reps and reps of practice. So it's great to see that pay off for him and for the quarterback and for the offense.
So it's something great to build off of, you know, I think, the more confidence guys get when they touch the ball like that and make plays, the more you could build off of that. And hopefully, uh, you know, we intend to see more and more from him and the rest of that receiving crew.
Q: (Inaudible)
Cristobal: I don't know if I've thought that far that deep in advancement, you know, right now it's like, you know, we're on third down in the red zone and chopping away at that stuff. And from informational stuff, just really studying their personnel.
Uh, you just, you know, how much I love ball. I mean, I live and die this stuff. So for me it is, it's just everything is geared towards, how can we help our team be successful.
How can we help make Miami better? How can we find a way to keep progressing? How can we continue to move the program forward?
Eliminate issues, eliminate penalties, you know that just doesn't stop. So that eats up, that eats up every second of the day. There's no personal time.
Henry Parrish has been limited since the UNC game and didn't play last week. Do you know what his status is going to be moving forward?
Cristobal: I think he'll be healthy enough this week. I mean, he was healthy enough to play. Um, just didn't look like he was up to full speed and the other guys, and the same thing with Ajay (Allen).
You know, felt that they were two days away, three days away, you know, like they were right at the cusp and those other guys were running the ball really well. So we went with those guys.
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