Heading Into Miami's Spring Game, Mario Cristobal Quotes to Remember

Mario Cristobal made some direct and interesting comments to the media this past Saturday.

After a few days of reflection from the Miami Hurricanes head coach said, it was time to dig in deeper to some of the most important statements.

If one takes a deeper look at them, there were some truly valuable points that he made about where Miami has gotten to with spring practice, as well as where the Canes still need to get to.

Here were key statements to note, with reflections from Cristobal’s commentary, beginning with his thoughts on the overall team’s ability to learn from the new coordinators.

“I think the fact that we’ve thrown a lot at them schematically, and they’ve taken it and done a good job, that’s been really good.”

Look, with two new coordinators – Shannon Dawson and Lance Guidry – taking over the offense and defense respectively, there was bound to be growing pains while the players learned the scheme in general. Plus, there’s no shortcut to learning the seemingly endless signals and verbiage that go with learning a new system.

That’s why it was surprising that Cristobal made the statement he did. Oftentimes coaches will steer away from that category because it’s hard to make it a positive.

Now, how often, and how well, the players execute on Friday during the spring game will be important to back up Cristobal’s statement. If nothing else, it’s cool that Cristobal had his player’s backs. That’s also a vital component of building The U back up to championship level. So was the comment about the defense Cristobal made.

“They stopped the run. That’s the first thing. We all know that we’ve had some guys banged up up front, on the defensive line for spring ball, but today they (defensive players) showed up big. A guy like Chantz Williams showed up big, Nyjalik (Kelly), Rueben Bain showed up big, Jake Lichtenstein…Thomas Gore showed up. Ahmad Moten had some really big moments.”

Any Miami fan reading this, those first four words are huge for the Miami program. Last season, the Canes gave up 142.1 yards rushing per game. Against teams with the most talent and a mindset to run the football like Florida State, Clemson, and Pittsburgh, Miami gave up 229, 201, and 248 yards rushing.

Even if it was just a Saturday scrimmage, it’s a long process to establish the mentality that the opposition will not run the football. Beyond the schematics and run fits, it’s a flat out mentality. If the Hurricanes can keep teams to 100 or just over 100 yards rushing per contest, that will change the outcomes of games next season.

Cristobal’s point about guys being banged up along the defensive line, and the reserves stepped up, that’s also a valid point. To win big at the Power 5 level, teams need the ability to rotate defensive linemen constantly. Good to see the Canes Have improved the depth from the 2022 season.

Cristobal also touched upon the back seven.

“Our linebackers played at a high level. They all did today. In the secondary, on the back end, they did a great job of being aggressive, getting hands on receivers. They made it difficult for the offense to get the ball out. They put them in difficult down and distance situations.”

To be honest, there should be high expectations at linebacker with the transfer of Francisco Mauigoa and the emergence of Wesley Bissainthe. The next step for Miami’s linebackers, as well as the Hurricanes as a whole, would be adding depth across the board. That’s also something Cristobal was blunt about during Saturday’s press conference, as noted by the following quote.

“That’s always been the blueprint to success at the stops that we have had. We’ve got to build and develop to a point where you have legitimate winning and championship depth at every position. And we have certainly gained a lot of ground towards that; we still have to gain more. At every position, we are looking for players.”

It’s football, at some point a player will go down with an ankle sprain, a broken hand, etc. The teams that reach the College Football Playoffs have the talented bodies stacked up across the depth chart. Cristobal was right to say what he did just because of that point about injuries. There’s also just keeping players fresh.

Obviously the defensive line has improved based upon Cristobal’s statements as well. That’s one step in the right direction.

As for him mentioning the secondary, there should be improvement. Kamren Kinchens could be college football’s most impactful safety, just to name one talented player.

Cristobal’s statement about Kinchens’ attitude spoke volumes as well.

“He’s not satisfied at all.”

There's a lot of expectations for Kinchens this season after being a first team All-American by multiple outlets such as 247 Sports and The Athletic. If Kinchens kept pushing after such a great sophomore season, that helped to set an example.

True leadership has sometimes been missing at Miami. Perhaps Kinchens will be the guy that truly leads the Canes towards being a dominant defense once again.

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