Mario Cristobal talks team, Elija Lofton: “One of the best freshman football players I’ve ever been around”
8 min read
The Canes sit at #4 in the nation, but Mario Cristobal continues to focus on going 1-0. He met with reporters to discuss the Duke win and Georgia Tech game:
Opening statement: Another hard-fought surge in the second half by our team. We find a way to play complementary and team football. I think the second half point differential was 36-10, and 21-0 in the fourth quarter alone. It came with some really high level execution. At halftime, we addressed the type of team that we need to be, and that we're gonna be, and what needs to be done to make that a reality. Great job by team leadership, coaching leadership, just taking over and playing more to the standard of the Miami Hurricane football program.
On Georgia Tech: Haynes King and that offense is really good. Yards per play, they're up there. They are really good at generating chunk plays. They protect him really well. They're number two in the country in least amount of sacks and pressures. They certainly do a great job of also getting him loose. He's a really good runner as well, and he's got explosive playmakers.
Making him one dimensional isn't necessarily the answer because he can chuck it around all over the place, too. You just have to prepare for a lot, and he's surrounded with a great supporting cast. His offensive line is one of the most experienced in the entire country. Most of them are either seniors or redshirt juniors. They play really well together. You could tell they're in sync. You could tell their line calls are on point. They don't make mistakes. They finish their blocks. They're very mature up front on both sides.
To spill over a little bit into the defense, they're very mature and very physical on both sides of the ball up front because they're very well coached. They're mature body types, and they’ve played a lot of football.
On the team’s room to improve: It's exciting as a coach. It's acknowledgement of reality. Truth and transparency go a long way. What everybody recognizes is you never stay the same. Jimmy Johnson used to tell us all the time. You either get better or you get worse, and you don't stay the same.
It's in the details, man. It's in the details of preparation, execution. Everybody has really good players. This morning, we went through some clips of some plays that really demonstrated high-level culture and physicality, and then some other ones that didn't meet the standard. And it wasn't like an explosive, highlight film catch. It was more the extra effort in finishing a block, getting downfield and covering your lane properly on punt or on kickoff, on putting pressure on the quarterback. Not getting the sack, but putting enough pressure where the ball's got to come out and it's an interception. Those types of things keep popping up in a good way. We got a really good dose of reality and an enthusiastic, diligent, driven approach to getting better.
On the tapering down of practice: We’ve now tapered to the final tapering point. We still do good-on-good every single day: at the start of practice, in the middle of practice, and at the end. Ones on ones, twos on twos. We do block destruction at least once a week, one-on-ones every single day. Thursday's a little bit lighter, but it always is. You start the season full throttle, and then every three to four weeks, you taper some, and then you get to that final tapering point where you can't prepare properly and cut off anymore.
On Jadais Richard: He got hurt. It was a significant injury, so it'll be a while before he gets back. I like to circle up with the family and his people before publicly talking about it. I think we owe that respect, but he was hurt significantly.
On Elija Lofton: He gets a lot of touches in practice. We have really good tight ends, and we're getting the ball spread out a little bit. Is he trusted? 100%. That guy's one of the best freshman football players I've ever been around. Comes from an awesome program, Bishop Gorman, coached the right way, raised the right way. His mom is an incredible person. What you get from him is just a very diligent, professional approach to the game. He's in every package we have. And you'll continue to see more and more of him.
On the impact of Richard’s injury on rotation: We have some guys that are really versatile and some guys that now it's their time. The injury bug is not exclusive or unique to us. A lot of people are going through it. We saw some teams with three, four offensive linemen down that do a great job protecting and blocking. We’ve been hit a little bit with it, and we certainly feel very confident in the guys that we do have. When we practice on the back end, we do it like we do the offensive line, where guys are taking snaps at multiple positions so that we have more versatility. That's gonna come into play now.
On what Zaquan Patterson has shown in practice: Growth, development in the areas of understanding the scheme, taking great angles. He's as good of a tackler as you'll find as a freshman. He really understands leverage, really understands playing low to high with a flat back, shooting a wrap, running his feet through contact. He comes from a great program in Chaminade-Madonna. He’s been coached at a very high level. Our coverage concepts aren't confusing for him. He's done a really good job digesting them and executing them, and you see more and more playing time for him. It's going to continue to elevate.
On the flow of the game on defense: We started fast, and then we hit a rut there in the second quarter that dragged a little bit into the early part of the third quarter. It was very polarized. You had three-and-outs on consecutive series, and then you had some 10 and 12-play drives, and then you close out the game with three-and-out, three-and-out, two and an interception, another three-and-out. All of those details, all of the snags, the hiccups that led to those extended drives are, for the most part, controllable.
Now, they hit some good plays. They really did. Credit to their quarterback, their receivers, their running back. They hit some really good ones. But there are other ones that we should have done a better job. We should have done a better job coaching it and executing it. And that's what we spent an enormous amount of time identifying until we could get better at it, simulating it in practice. Some of it has gotten better, and some of it still needs to get better.
On the time-management system: It's been kind of the process always. It's just a little bit more visible and present. But it's the same processes, and it's constant interaction so that there's a fail safe. There's no loopholes in the process. Up until this past week, we were really up there in middle-eight production, which is critical. How you end a half, how you start a half. There are a lot of different areas that probably don't make it to the media, in terms of trying to gain an extra possession, trying to defuse an extra possession for the other side, trying to save your timeouts in case you're in an opportunity to get a possession back. All those scenarios have played out, for the most part, to how we wanted it to. It's been a lot of diligence with a lot of people working hard.
On Cam McCormick: I think he's going to play in the NFL for a good while. Yeah, Cam had to go through some injuries, but Cam is healthy. Cam is super smart. And Cam has seen a lot of football, man. He's been in every imaginable offensive set, play call. He is an absolute sponge on special teams as well. He's incredible. And then his leadership, you watch him and Elijah Arroyo when the defense is huddling up on the field during a timeout. The way they come over and bring energy that’s genuine, like, “Hey, let's go. Let's go get this thing done. Let's bleep, bleep, bleep”. And it's from the heart and it's genuine and it's real.
That guy, he's seen a lot. He's been through it all. He just wants to win, and he wants to see the guys around him be successful. That being said, Cam's a very talented guy. Cam's 265 pounds, and Cam can run, he can catch, he can block. He's great on special teams. At the tail end of their careers, we always try to grab guys like that and bring them into coaching because we are firm believers that young people need more people that are good for young people. We need more really good mentors, really good teachers, guys that have the heart in the right place and that can make an impact and change people for the better. And maybe one day we could convince him to do something like that.
Opening statement: Another hard-fought surge in the second half by our team. We find a way to play complementary and team football. I think the second half point differential was 36-10, and 21-0 in the fourth quarter alone. It came with some really high level execution. At halftime, we addressed the type of team that we need to be, and that we're gonna be, and what needs to be done to make that a reality. Great job by team leadership, coaching leadership, just taking over and playing more to the standard of the Miami Hurricane football program.
On Georgia Tech: Haynes King and that offense is really good. Yards per play, they're up there. They are really good at generating chunk plays. They protect him really well. They're number two in the country in least amount of sacks and pressures. They certainly do a great job of also getting him loose. He's a really good runner as well, and he's got explosive playmakers.
Making him one dimensional isn't necessarily the answer because he can chuck it around all over the place, too. You just have to prepare for a lot, and he's surrounded with a great supporting cast. His offensive line is one of the most experienced in the entire country. Most of them are either seniors or redshirt juniors. They play really well together. You could tell they're in sync. You could tell their line calls are on point. They don't make mistakes. They finish their blocks. They're very mature up front on both sides.
To spill over a little bit into the defense, they're very mature and very physical on both sides of the ball up front because they're very well coached. They're mature body types, and they’ve played a lot of football.
On the team’s room to improve: It's exciting as a coach. It's acknowledgement of reality. Truth and transparency go a long way. What everybody recognizes is you never stay the same. Jimmy Johnson used to tell us all the time. You either get better or you get worse, and you don't stay the same.
It's in the details, man. It's in the details of preparation, execution. Everybody has really good players. This morning, we went through some clips of some plays that really demonstrated high-level culture and physicality, and then some other ones that didn't meet the standard. And it wasn't like an explosive, highlight film catch. It was more the extra effort in finishing a block, getting downfield and covering your lane properly on punt or on kickoff, on putting pressure on the quarterback. Not getting the sack, but putting enough pressure where the ball's got to come out and it's an interception. Those types of things keep popping up in a good way. We got a really good dose of reality and an enthusiastic, diligent, driven approach to getting better.
On the tapering down of practice: We’ve now tapered to the final tapering point. We still do good-on-good every single day: at the start of practice, in the middle of practice, and at the end. Ones on ones, twos on twos. We do block destruction at least once a week, one-on-ones every single day. Thursday's a little bit lighter, but it always is. You start the season full throttle, and then every three to four weeks, you taper some, and then you get to that final tapering point where you can't prepare properly and cut off anymore.
On Jadais Richard: He got hurt. It was a significant injury, so it'll be a while before he gets back. I like to circle up with the family and his people before publicly talking about it. I think we owe that respect, but he was hurt significantly.
On Elija Lofton: He gets a lot of touches in practice. We have really good tight ends, and we're getting the ball spread out a little bit. Is he trusted? 100%. That guy's one of the best freshman football players I've ever been around. Comes from an awesome program, Bishop Gorman, coached the right way, raised the right way. His mom is an incredible person. What you get from him is just a very diligent, professional approach to the game. He's in every package we have. And you'll continue to see more and more of him.
On the impact of Richard’s injury on rotation: We have some guys that are really versatile and some guys that now it's their time. The injury bug is not exclusive or unique to us. A lot of people are going through it. We saw some teams with three, four offensive linemen down that do a great job protecting and blocking. We’ve been hit a little bit with it, and we certainly feel very confident in the guys that we do have. When we practice on the back end, we do it like we do the offensive line, where guys are taking snaps at multiple positions so that we have more versatility. That's gonna come into play now.
On what Zaquan Patterson has shown in practice: Growth, development in the areas of understanding the scheme, taking great angles. He's as good of a tackler as you'll find as a freshman. He really understands leverage, really understands playing low to high with a flat back, shooting a wrap, running his feet through contact. He comes from a great program in Chaminade-Madonna. He’s been coached at a very high level. Our coverage concepts aren't confusing for him. He's done a really good job digesting them and executing them, and you see more and more playing time for him. It's going to continue to elevate.
On the flow of the game on defense: We started fast, and then we hit a rut there in the second quarter that dragged a little bit into the early part of the third quarter. It was very polarized. You had three-and-outs on consecutive series, and then you had some 10 and 12-play drives, and then you close out the game with three-and-out, three-and-out, two and an interception, another three-and-out. All of those details, all of the snags, the hiccups that led to those extended drives are, for the most part, controllable.
Now, they hit some good plays. They really did. Credit to their quarterback, their receivers, their running back. They hit some really good ones. But there are other ones that we should have done a better job. We should have done a better job coaching it and executing it. And that's what we spent an enormous amount of time identifying until we could get better at it, simulating it in practice. Some of it has gotten better, and some of it still needs to get better.
On the time-management system: It's been kind of the process always. It's just a little bit more visible and present. But it's the same processes, and it's constant interaction so that there's a fail safe. There's no loopholes in the process. Up until this past week, we were really up there in middle-eight production, which is critical. How you end a half, how you start a half. There are a lot of different areas that probably don't make it to the media, in terms of trying to gain an extra possession, trying to defuse an extra possession for the other side, trying to save your timeouts in case you're in an opportunity to get a possession back. All those scenarios have played out, for the most part, to how we wanted it to. It's been a lot of diligence with a lot of people working hard.
On Cam McCormick: I think he's going to play in the NFL for a good while. Yeah, Cam had to go through some injuries, but Cam is healthy. Cam is super smart. And Cam has seen a lot of football, man. He's been in every imaginable offensive set, play call. He is an absolute sponge on special teams as well. He's incredible. And then his leadership, you watch him and Elijah Arroyo when the defense is huddling up on the field during a timeout. The way they come over and bring energy that’s genuine, like, “Hey, let's go. Let's go get this thing done. Let's bleep, bleep, bleep”. And it's from the heart and it's genuine and it's real.
That guy, he's seen a lot. He's been through it all. He just wants to win, and he wants to see the guys around him be successful. That being said, Cam's a very talented guy. Cam's 265 pounds, and Cam can run, he can catch, he can block. He's great on special teams. At the tail end of their careers, we always try to grab guys like that and bring them into coaching because we are firm believers that young people need more people that are good for young people. We need more really good mentors, really good teachers, guys that have the heart in the right place and that can make an impact and change people for the better. And maybe one day we could convince him to do something like that.
