Head Coach Mario Cristobal is doing everything he can to change the recent perception of the University of Miami. The Hurricanes' football coach spoke on the Joe Rose Show on 560 WQAM Monday morning and talked about the progress he and his staff made since returning to Miami:

“We’re progressing. Upon arrival, there was a monstrosity of a gap, and we made up a lot of ground. We’re going to find out when we place that ball on the tee and kick it off and then as the weeks go by because I don’t get into projections and predictions and all that kind of stuff there. I’ve been very blessed to be at places and blueprints, this blueprint where it works. A 4-8 Oregon team that climbed to 7-6, 9-4 and then winning the Rose Bowl and then being where we are sustained at a place like Alabama. All those blueprints are a replica of what we did here at Miami back in the day. It works. We’re progressing. We don’t ever draw comparisons with former teams or what not. We stress how sacred that Greentree Practice Field is. We stress the legacy, we stress the expectations from ourselves and from within, but we don’t get caught up in the outside stuff. We really stress being an internally motivated and driven operation and cutting all of the outside noise and BS, that’s not going to help anybody get better.”

“All of a sudden Elijah Roberts is healthy, Jabari Ishmael is healthy, Jake Lichtenstein, he’s another one, [Antonio] Moultrie. Alan Haye made tremendous progress. Nyjalik Kelly is a guy that off the edge, him and Cyrus Moss and Thomas Davis. There are a lot of guys and all of a sudden the line of scrimmage is different. Those battles in the trenches, close your eyes and you can here how different it is. It lends to us being more physical. Obviously, technique and fundamentals are at a premium. The latter part of the scrimmage showed us playing with our pads too high and not getting our feet in the ground and a little bit undisciplined with our hands, but early on a lot showed up of what you want to show up. Certainly makes us a better football team but we have work to do.”

“Yea, you got to throw in Al Blades in there as well. He’s played really, really well, and obviously outside [Tecory] Couch and Tyrique Stevenson has had a great camp. DJ Ivey I can’t speak highly enough of. Also, a guy that’s popped out there is Malik Curtis. I don’t have a depth chart in front of me, so I can rattle off names. Those two positions, the defensive line, and the secondary have been the most competitive. What we do on defense it lends to that. It’s very systematic and they really caught on to it. We’ve been able to understand leverages a little bit better, where our help is, we’ve been able to get guys on the ground in a better fashion. We still have a lot of work to do from a tackling standpoint. We still have some, again it’s all technique man, and a willingness to go in there and knock it around a little bit, but all in all those two positions and the safeties you just mentioned, Avante [Williams] has done a good job as well. All those guys have. We consider all those guys (Kamren Kinchens, Avante and James Williams) co-starters and they got to duke it out each and every week and keep a lot of pressure on each other to see who performs best.”

“It looks significant. It was the number one issue to address, of course, the linemen assignment goes with that as well, but, on paper and not having been around it, was the number one issue. On paper, Miami was the team ranked last in terms of tackling. Now how that came about, I don’t know, I don’t judge and I really don’t care, but we had to address it in a fashion that incorporated technique and fundamentals along with scheme, and your alignments, and eye discipline. We feel like we made a pretty significant amount of advancement towards getting to where we want to be, to where we want to get to, but again on Saturday, something showed up when that sun started beating down. We got to be able to show that we, it’s more important to us than the other side, but these guys have shown that they can be pushed, and they have been pushed and they have responded well. There’s a lot of pride and we are gaining more pride. We’re working, we’re developing, we’re getting better.”

“Coach Mirabal, he’s one of a kind. More importantly, the players have really taken to his style of coaching. Yes, we have implemented some technique and fundamentals that allow us to rip off the ball, and lock our hips, and play with power and also to play with athleticism. Ever since we had a chance to coach good offensive lines and had good players we’ve always used those guys as weapons too. You can game plan certain players on the other side of the ball if you have a dominant player up front in the trenches. Those guys have done really well. There’s a lot in store for them. We’ve been very multiple. We’ve done it all in camp. The menu for us offensively has been pretty revamped. Looking forward to those guys to get to work.”

“Rare, because he’s an elite human being, an elite competitor, an elite athlete, and a jumbo athlete. When you are 330 pounds and you can do what he does. He runs like a big-skill guy. He’s light-footed but he’s heavy-handed. He can slug it out with you and he can slide his feet and then go speed to power. He can anchor down and redirect guys. Tremendous recoverability. Let’s say he happens to take a poor angle or someone was able to get to an edge before he got there. This guy can replace a hand, flip his hips, recover and still find a way to win the block. He’s just got a lot of value and more so as a human being. His parents, heck all the parents just about were here on Saturday. It was good they had a chance to be around their son and watch them ball.”

“I see it at times and but not consistently enough. Xavier Restrepo has been the most consistent player and has made some really big plays. A guy that is really popping lately is Brashard Smith. He’s a compact build but explosive and fast and quick and can make people miss and he’s done a really good job. Key’Shawn Smith has had his moments as well but we’re still developing. We’re still going to push that position and just like any other position we have work to do, but we are not going to ever sugarcoat it. We are going to confront, demand it, and be very truthful, honest, and transparent about it. We are going to push, but we are going to keep getting better.”

“I think what everyone in this country can acknowledge is that when Miami is on, it’s a different level. And as we continue to make the ground toward that, take steps toward that, the focus is everything here right now. Our most important prospects and recruits are inside the locker room, inside the building, and as it continues to come together there’s more momentum and you get more momentum then it’s really really hard to stop and you get to maintain it, elevated it, all that stuff. You jump out of bed through the roof fired up and excited knowing what the day brings, and knowing what the future brings, but you have to dive into the work. You got to fully acknowledge that the only thing it’s going to take is every ounce of your existence to make this thing happen and make it a reality and that’s awesome, I love it.”

“Yeah, we go nicked up at that position and it forced some guys to step up. It forced us to also make sure we have an emergency plan with other players on the roster. It’s certainly something you never want and sometimes camp brings that and it has for football forever. You always try to avoid it. A couple of those injuries where they just happen to be very freak accidents but overall getting healthier, but we’ll be ready to play.”

Miami resumes practice tomorrow morning on Greentree.