Cristobal assesses team progress after Saturday scrimmage

CanesInSight News

Apr 8, 2023 3 min read

Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal was pleased with the team's overall progress during their Saturday morning scrimmage in Coral Gables. He highlighted some standout performances and shared insights on both defensive and offensive updates.

"Some big plays, explosive plays on both sides of the ball," Cristobal said. "Kam Kinchens continues to excel. He's not satisfied at all. The banner got hung up two days ago, and it's like he's performing like it was never there, and that's awesome to see. We're seeing that from a lot of veteran guys as well but overall, very solid progress from our entire football team, and we still have three days of practice."

On the defensive front, Cristobal acknowledged that the team had been dealing with injuries during spring ball but was impressed with the players' performances in the scrimmage. "A guy like Chantz Williams showed up big, Nyjalik Kelly and Rueben Bain showed up big, Jake Lichtenstein, Thomas Gore showed up, Ahmad Moten and had some really good moments," he noted. "Our linebackers played at a high level they all did today. And then in the secondary on the back end, they did a great job being aggressive, getting hands on receivers and they made it difficult for the offense to get the ball out and they put them in difficult down and distance situations."

Offensively, Cristobal mentioned a few standout players, including Jacurri Brown, Isaiah Horton, Xavier Restrepo, and Don Chaney. However, he did point out some inconsistencies, especially with the wide receivers. "As a wide receiver group, the receivers were inconsistent today outside, we had some opportunities and we did not come up with them. Later in the scrimmage, we did, but early on we couldn't get the thing going," Cristobal explained.

Regarding second-year quarterback Jacurri Brown, Cristobal commented on his potential and progress. "Well, this suits his style a little bit more because it's just from a progression standpoint, from a learning standpoint, and then having a quarterback coach in the room – it just it all makes sense and he has progressed. Guy's won a lot of ball games. He's played in a lot of big games, and he knows how to play football. All we've got to do is make sure that him and all the quarterbacks are systematic that they're playing within the system, but without being a robot."

Cristobal also touched on the state of the ‘Canes roster, indicating that Miami will be active in the transfer portal in the coming weeks. "We have to do what it requires. That's always been the blueprint to success at the stops that we have had; you've got to build and develop to a point where you have legitimate winning and championship depth at every position. We have certainly gained a lot of ground towards that we still have to gain more so at every position."

Miami's coach did express satisfaction with the offensive line's development. "We have certainly poured a lot into the offensive line body types and mentality, which was a monstrously glaring issue upon arrival and through the season, and it's something that we feel that we're getting a lot of ground towards getting better."

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SinisterCane

Apr 10, 2023

Scorpioncane said:
@SinisterCane... You tripping with that take after one year! The players quit because he took away there club med pass! And, actually made practice hard instead of club med practices Danny miaz implored.

Pimpin’ Mario aint it, he took an entire winter to assemble a staph worst than Mannys

Scorpioncane

Apr 10, 2023

SinisterCane said:
Pimpin’ Mario aint it, he took an entire winter to assemble a staph worst than Mannys

That's subjective to knowing the results before hand! Before we played a game who would've thought it would end that way?

Empirical Cane

Apr 10, 2023

Rickd said:
The entire season ... from the Texas A&M debacle right to the end felt very much like the last game at the OB. Disgusting. Mario scares me a bit in that he seems to sometimes have unrealistic expectations and holds on to them to the detriment of the entire program. Simply holding out with the insane hope that Ken Dorsey was going to take the OC job in 2022, then finally moving on at a late date to be turned down finally by Jason Candle, is simply poor judgement. Certainly hope that Alonzo helps to moderate his "shooting for the fence" approach in some instances.

Swinging.

Bunker Mentality

Apr 10, 2023

E1k said:
What did he say wrong?

his answer wasn't really responsive to the question.

"...you have something to prove?"

"...let's be real, i'm a black QB"

being a black QB isn't the reason he's got something to prove; he has something to prove because he's an erratic passer.

3
305407cane

Apr 10, 2023

Usually we win 3 less games than I predict. Since I predict 15-0 I think 12 wins is solid guys.

But nah seriously 7 wins and 8 is a positive development

Bunker Mentality

Apr 10, 2023

JHallCanes said:
Ok thank you for the context

Also at the body fat question right before it

Yup; Susan gettin it in.

Last edited: Apr 10, 2023

acento

Apr 10, 2023

7-6

A
ADELPHI

Apr 10, 2023

Lance Roffers said:
The past two years support staff has thought they’ve had five transfer WR’s locked up. None have ended up at Miami after they took Miami’s offer and renegotiated with their current teams, or got bigger offers elsewhere, or just used it to drum up interest.

The Mizzou kid who transferred to Georgia acted interested and then wasn’t. There’s a Kentucky transfer WR who did the same.

Bryant is one of the kids support thought was locked up on his visit and then he wasn’t.

Maybe trolled isn’t the perfect word in a quick post I made full of news drops I have heard. Maybe tease or fish that get off the hook etc.

Bottom line is Miami has attempted to land probably a dozen portal WR’s under Mario and the one they landed was a guy I’ve said publicly since high school I wouldn’t take because he can’t play.

This is coming from a Mario supporter. I’ve convinced he will win here. Probably not a national title (my suspicion is Miami never wins another one), but definitely a NY6 bowl six out of ten years type program.

I'm deflated. Depressing news all around on this board

OriginalCanesCanesCanes

Apr 10, 2023

Lance Roffers said:
You read different words than I wrote.

I don’t get what you’re saying. Is there another way to interpret what you wrote?

CoastCane

Apr 10, 2023

Cribby said:
I think there’s some delusion here just like last season, they are sleeping on how paper thin this team is and how lacking the total talent is. They need to hit on the guys they do take after spring , it’ll be huge and Mario knows that. Hence why they’ll be so aggressive. Guys will come and guys will leave after spring but this won’t cut it as currently constructed.

why wasn't he more aggressive the first go around in the portal. These needs just didnt sneak up on him

Angry Ibis

Apr 10, 2023

OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
Nothing personal, but that’s a totally ****ed up way to look at the future.

I’m not living my sports fan life without hope, just not built that way.

I’m with you. I just couldn’t do it.

SayWhat

Apr 10, 2023

Scorpioncane said:
@SinisterCane... You tripping with that take after one year! The players quit because he took away there club med pass! And, actually made practice hard instead of club med practices Danny miaz implored.

You're tripping.

Kids will follow you if you lead and show tangible results. We had a QB take himself out of the equation. We had an OL starter say **** it, I'll sit out the entire year rather than throw myself into this mix.

The season was a comedy of errors on all fronts. We looked as poorly coached as I can ever remember in my nearly 35 plus years of following this team religiously.

Mario didn't even believe in what was going on. You could see it in his face during the game, post game, etc. Why in the world would anyone follow that? It wasn't all his fault, it was a failure by all, even the players. Even when they did put the effort in, it didn't matter. Quite simply, they weren't put in a position to win.

Mario and company better give them something to believe in this year or his tenure will be quite short. There won't be enough NIL money to double or even triple what other schools offer and even if there were, they'd tell us to get ****ed regardless.

Apr 10, 2023

Scorpioncane said:
@E1k your time frame is harsh!

Harsh Reality

miamimike305

Apr 11, 2023

SayWhat said:
You're tripping.

Kids will follow you if you lead and show tangible results. We had a QB take himself out of the equation. We had an OL starter say **** it, I'll sit out the entire year rather than throw myself into this mix.

The season was a comedy of errors on all fronts. We looked as poorly coached as I can ever remember in my nearly 35 plus years of following this team religiously.

Mario didn't even believe in what was going on. You could see it in his face during the game, post game, etc. Why in the world would anyone follow that? It wasn't all his fault, it was a failure by all, even the players. Even when they did put the effort in, it didn't matter. Quite simply, they weren't put in a position to win.

Mario and company better give them something to believe in this year or his tenure will be quite short. There won't be enough NIL money to double or even triple what other schools offer and even if there were, they'd tell us to get ****ed regardless.

I don’t believe in Cristobal. I don’t think he brings us back. End Of Story.

Empirical Cane

Apr 11, 2023

Lance Roffers said:
You read different words than I wrote.

He does that.

That's his thing.

FrancisSawyer

Apr 11, 2023

Cane4life18 said:
Sounds like a 7-5 team. If OL stays healthy we'll probably win 8 games.

Bingo! Johnny I think we have a winner!

FrancisSawyer

Apr 11, 2023

acento said:
7-6

That is very possible if not probable. Put it this way.... If you told me right now that we would finish 8-5 I would be happy with that. 9-4 would be a dream season with this rooster.

What we need in the portal post spring is glaringly obvious. We need 2 WRs who can play not depth guys and one of them needs to be able to be WR1. We need 2 CBs with P5 starting experience who can cover or a highly touted 4 or 5 star who wasn't happy were he was at. Bottom line is we need 2 difference makers at CB because that room is terrible and Stafford, true freshman Brown and Chris Graves are not going to be ready. I have a feeling that Jaden Harris will be a baller but we need talent at CB. Mario needs to get cooking there.

I think we are ok at DE/Edge but if a Quincy Roche caliber kid shows up at our doorstep we take him. That said we need size inside at DT. We need 2 grown men inside. 0 tech, 1 tech, 2 tech or all of the above. We have to fill the hole that Darrell Jackson left and then some.

Let's be real. Travonte Citizen will not play a down this year so that leaves us with Henry Parrish, Don Chaney and the two freshmen Chris Johnson and Mark Fletcher. I love Parrish but he cannot be the bell cow that Mario loves. Chaney can but he has injury history. I believe both Johnson and Fletcher can and will play this year but we need a very solid starter quality RB in the portal.

We need a QB. I love TVD and think Brown could be a future star but we need the depth.

We could also use a LB. In the event that a good one becomes available then we have to take him. We could use a Safety for depth but I'll happily roll the dice there if we meet most of the other needs I listed.

The only units on the team that actually look good are the OL and TEs. This OL should be the strength of the team. Rivers/Cohen/Lee/Cooper/Mauigoa could be the best line we have had in a decade maybe more. With depth consisting of McCoy, Okunlola, Zion Nelson, Denis and Sagapolu we should be ok. Depth will be even better when Kinsler and Tinilau arrive.

Mario is a proven recruiter and we know he can recruit elite TEs. This group of Arroyo, Skinner, R.Williams and Carver are an elite collection of talent. Question is what are we going to do with all that talent? Given the issues at WR, I would expect all of the above with the possible exception of Carver to get serious burn. When you have talent you better **** well use it unlike the buffoon we had at OC last year.

We know Mario can get elite OL, TE, DE, RB, and LB. Going forward he is going to have to start stacking elite talent at WR, CB, DT and QB in order to truly succeed here. How he recruits those 4 positions will likely determine his ability to do that.

Last edited: Apr 11, 2023

FrancisSawyer

Apr 11, 2023

RVACane said:
Mario is like the salesman who has a $100 sale that he can wrap up in his store at 10 am on a Tuesday morning. But he wants to convince the customer that they should get the $105 version because he makes an extra $3 (net) on it so he spends 3 hours selling it to the guy who was happy with the $100 product. Meanwhile, $1,000 worth of sales have walked in and out of his store and went elsewhere because he was busy ******* around for $3 more in profit.

That’s what I see right now.

This may be the best post I've read this year.

Squid Bumciorek

Apr 11, 2023

WeBallinBoyz said:
The roster being a disaster? Lol stop playing, that’s all Manny’s fault and anyone that thinks it can be fixed in 1 recruiting class…seek help.

People said the same thing when the Al Golden /DNofrio defense was giving up 200 pts per game. Every one claimed the roster was a disaster with zero talent. And then with pretty much the same roster, Diaz used the players in a 4-3 scheme and ended up with the #12 ranked defense in his 1st season as DC. Turns out that trying to fatten up players to play a Big 10 style 3-4 defense was a bad use of personnel. Who would have guessed?

Cristobal blew it with his OC hire so personally, I can't tell say for sure if the offensive roster Cristobal inherited was mediocre or if it was actually one of the worst in the country. I lean towards the former, especially given that TVD looked terrific under Diaz. Cristobal has since fixed the OC issue, but note that the problem wasn't just the play caller, it was the entire scheme. If the lack of production is a pure roster issue, then you stick with the same scheme until you bring in enough talent needed to execute it well. By abandoning caveman football for a spread offense, Cristobal all but admitted his decisions on the offense played a significant role in making the talent look worse than it was.

FrancisSawyer

Apr 11, 2023

Lance Roffers said:
I’m gonna let you in on a secret: if you talk to support staff, they think Miami is getting most everyone.

They think he can challenge to start at Z.

Who can challenge to start at Z? Who is this D2 WR you speak of? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Cristobal assesses team progress after Saturday scrimmage

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