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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Scorpioncane

Apr 11, 2023

Ghandi said:
You already have a guy just like him in George.

I dont understand why Miami is after him so hard.

He not on the roster! And, he is actually interested

Apr 11, 2023

RVACane said:
Nothing’s disingenuous. People are making excuses for the worst season in my sizable lifetime. That’s white-washing. Manny had Phillips and Roche and Mario also brought in Mesidor and Darrell Jackson.

And on the offense - you got Rambo??? Gattis would’ve wasted him too.

If the Manny staff from his final year, coaches last year’s team, we have a better season than the putrid bro-style filth we saw last year.

Not only that, Phillips and Roche never played a single game with Rambo. Those guys were gone after the 2020 season and we brought in Rambo for the 2021 season.

Last year's staff took what should have been an 8 win team and made them into a 5 win team.

WeBallinBoyz

Apr 11, 2023

TimeBum said:
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.

Absolutely correct here, but scheme (Diaz) made a huge impact and a positive change. That’s what we’re hoping Guidry can do, and Dawson on offense.

WeBallinBoyz

Apr 11, 2023

hoops156 said:
there was enough talent to win more than 5 games. stop this. it was an absolutely poor coaching job.

No one said it wasn’t

I quite literally said we were boat raced in X’s and O’s. stop putting out false narratives because you actively want him to fail and look for everything to complain about.

The two points are mutually exclusive.

RVACane

Apr 11, 2023

DTP said:
Not only that, Phillips and Roche never played a single game with Rambo. Those guys were gone after the 2020 season and we brought in Rambo for the 2021 season.

Last year's staff took what should have been an 8 win team and made them into a 5 win team.

It’s like people see something brought up regarding Mario that’s in a less positive light than Manny and they see red.

Apr 11, 2023

RVACane said:
It’s like people see something brought up regarding Mario that’s in a less positive light than Manny and they see red.

Careful, someone might accuse you of being a Manny fan because you didn't lower your standards for Mario.

SinisterCane

Apr 11, 2023

Scorpioncane said:
How can they kick it out of Mario! He didn't play you reaching sinistercane. His players didn't but in

He did say in a round about way, It's the stigma of a black qbs.

Duke flipped the ****tier roster than Miami‘s then went on to blowout Miami at home and only took 1 years to it. Mario is the failure I knew he would be.

Cryptical Envelopment

Apr 11, 2023

Tru C said:
On that note, look like Tropical Park to me! lmao!

Weird, I read that football being played at Tropical Park would bring a plague of 7 years.

Scorpioncane

Apr 11, 2023

hoops156 said:
Phillips wasn't on mannys last team. Phillips left the year Rousseau did since they both got drafted in round 1 that same year (Phillips to the fins and Rousseau end of round 1 to buffalo). roche also left that year.

SinisterCane said:
Duke flipped the ****tier roster than Miami‘s then went on to blowout Miami at home and only took 1 years to it. Mario is the failure I knew he would be.

Dukes roster flipped happened the year before Mario got there so basically it's a 2year flip(year before and last year).. and, with the internal stuff going on plus the horrible coaching it was a recipe for disaster.

hoops156

Apr 11, 2023

DTP said:
Careful, someone might accuse you of being a Manny fan because you didn't lower your standards for Mario.

fwiw 1 bad year doesnt mean mario cannot win here. hes also not under any pressure right now either. i think he will win here but ill be shocked if we win a title which isnt the end all be all. if he turns into UGA Richt, ill be thrilled.

hoops156

Apr 11, 2023

Scorpioncane said:
Dukes roster flipped happened the year before Mario got there so basically it's a 2year flip(year before and last year).. and, with the internal stuff going on plus the horrible coaching it was a recipe for disaster.

duke added an entirely new coaching staff (some of whom included former miami staffers) and **** on us. the current duke coach did not flip the roster.

Scorpioncane

Apr 11, 2023

hoops156 said:
duke added an entirely new coaching staff (some of whom included former miami staffers) and **** on us. the current duke coach did not flip the roster.

Oh ok don't follow duke like that only to hate on there bball team! But that duke game was an example of " hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard"

Gables Canes

Apr 11, 2023

DB, DT, WR are my biggest positions of concern as of now.

hoops156

Apr 11, 2023

Scorpioncane said:
Oh ok don't follow duke like that only to hate on there bball team! But that duke game was an example of " hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard"

take our game away then. duke finished strong in year 1 after being one of if not the worst p5 team in america for at least 3-4 years prior to that under cutty. they were coached well and their coach put their roster (which is a lot worse than ours and won far less games under a prior coaching staff) in a positon to succeed. marios biggest disappointment to me last year was his failure to adjust to the talent. there were holes on the roster but it wasnt an untalented group. it was misused. i dont expect much this year in terms of a huge win improvement but this year it wouldnt be due to the coaching staff. i think the roster is just left w too many holes following the transfers without enough replacements (CB, WR, DT).

hoops156

Apr 11, 2023

Gables Canes said:
DB, DT, WR are my biggest positions of concern as of now.

this. lost too much even if you think the previous guys were trash without enough replacements. i absolutely think losing Jackson and Cormani as HS recruits crushed us bc its two guys we lost ships on really late in the game.

Scorpioncane

Apr 11, 2023

hoops156 said:
take our game away then. duke finished strong in year 1 after being one of if not the worst p5 team in america for at least 3-4 years prior to that under cutty.

Yeah they just never had elite talent! They seemed to always give us problems! Except for a blow out here or there! Still remember that last second win when corn elder scored.

hoops156

Apr 11, 2023

Scorpioncane said:
Yeah they just never had elite talent! They seemed to always give us problems! Except for a blow out here or there! Still remember that last second win when corn elder scored.

they gave us issues when cutty had those few good years there (they were better coached under him obviously than before). the last few years prior to this past season wasnt that. they had maybe like 5 wins in a 3 year span or something. they were getting ripped to shreds by us. even take the game agianst duke in manyns final year and marios first year and look at the contrast.

R
Roe 15th00

Apr 11, 2023

We have the worst player development in modern sports history…..

WeBallinBoyz

Apr 11, 2023

hoops156 said:
duke added an entirely new coaching staff (some of whom included former miami staffers) and **** on us. the current duke coach did not flip the roster.

The plan was to find coordinators like Johns that can utilize inferior talent and turn it into a marketable and successful product, buying time for Mario to clean out the roster and bring in real dogs. Of course Duke’s players aren’t as good as ours - but at the same time, our players aren’t as good as people think they are. Now add those mediocre/borderline P5 players with a scheme that is uninspiring and lacks explosiveness…and you get 5-7.

Idk if Dawson is that guy yet. He seems personable and is simplifying everything. He and Guidry (more confident in him long term) will make their money’s worth with this group as it stands. Its also nice to have a real WR coach - not that I’m crowning Beard, but at least he’s teaching them instead of Gattis, who just expected them to get open and focused on playcalling (I know, sounds stupid when you read it considering how horrific he was).