Mario Cristobal Shares His Outlook For Miami's Transfer Portal And 2024 Recruiting

Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal won't be getting much sleep in the month of December. The transfer portal opens on 12/4. Then on the 20th, the early signing period begins for high school recruits.

Cristobal shared some insight on his outlook at philosophy on his weekly radio appearance on The Joe Rose Show on 560 WQAM.

On figuring out which of his current players are staying or leaving

"Like you said, it's a wild wild west," said Cristobal. "Trying to figure out who to keep, who to help, who's staying and who's going. Just being as professional as possible and doing what's absolutely best for the program. Trying to keep people from getting into the ears of guys and giving them false information while (we) give them the best information we can."

On the march to national signing day for Class of 2024 recruiting

"We need another big recruiting haul. We need another 30+ guys in the mold of a Rueben Bain, a Mark Fletcher or a Damari Brown."

On possible defections from assistant coaches or players in a short period of time

"Like five years ago I changed my perspective on all that stuff. I just figured, any defection that you create or that happens to catch you by surprise is an opportunity to upgrade. You keep a three-deep at every possible slot for players, coaches or analysts. You just keep that handy and you keep going. It's exciting. You have an opportunity to get better everywhere when things happen. We're working our way to becoming a really good team. This is a young team with a lot of juice. Improvement is happening across the board. The systems are really starting to come on. It's an exciting time. It's gonna attract some really good players and some good coaches. That's what I'm working on 24/7."

On Tyler Van Dyke's future and Miami's QB situation heading into a bowl game

"There's a lot of positives. We feel really strongly about the young guys. We're super proud of what Tyler did. He's gotta figure it out, man. We're not gonna dance around it, or BS it or be delicate about the approach. We've gotta move forward. We certainly want to be respectful and do what's best for everybody, but for the Miami Hurricanes first."

On how quickly Miami needs to make moves in the transfer portal

"The NCAA, rightfully so, has taken a hard-line stance. If people are messing around and tempering they're going to slam you, they really are. But you'd better be in position if there is word out there that a guy is gonna move here or there. As you meet with your guys, too, you've got to be straight up and realistic no matter how it comes and no matter which way that meeting goes. You need to be ready to upgrade right away whether it's coming from the outside or making a move from the inside. That's where the focus is right now as I sit here laying out this roster and the organizational board."

"There's opportunity here and opportunity outside. You can't be held hostage. You can't allow that to happen. You've got to have flexibility to move. You've got to hit people with the truth. That's the bottom line."

Asked if he has any idea if defensive coordinator Lance Guidry could be poached

"We got banged up (on defense) and he still found ways to make it work. I'm always gonna help coaches garner attention and do things for their career. The guys who are here now are happy. I'm sure at some point in time, everybody's got to make a decision throughout the course of the year, but you don't go into this thing all hoping, wishing, and worrying... you can't do that. You have a great list of people. There are some real ones (already) here and some real ones out there. You make sure you get the right ones. We have flooded this building with awesome people and we need to get a bunch more."

My takes:

I wouldn't read too much into his answer on Lance Guidry. People will be tempted to draw conclusions from this, but it sounded to me like Cristobal chose to speak in generalities rather than speak for Lance. Guidry has said he is happy in Miami and hasn't received any overtures from other programs at this time.

What I did find especially interesting is what Cristobal said about recruiting, when he mentioned adding 30+. Miami currently has 26 verbal commits for 2024. Adding more than 30 would be a large class... bigger than what I would have expected.

I enjoyed what Cristobal said about not being held hostage. This time of year, decisions need to be made quickly with the portal about to open. If any current players are on the fence, Mario will have to make decisions on Miami's timeline, not theirs.

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