Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal made his weekly appearance on local radio 560 WQAM Monday morning on the Joe Rose Show With Zach Krantz. The Hurricanes prepare for its annual clash with rival Florida State this Saturday.
Finding a way to win with Jake Garcia
“Well again like you mentioned it, it’s finding a way. Some things offensively were not pretty, but learning resiliency, learning toughness, learning to fight through, supporting each other, it’s a big deal for our guys. Going into a fourth overtime and finding a way. Jake [Garcia] stepping in there, gutsy performance, some ups, and some downs, but again just a tough hard-nosed guy that really prepared as best he could, did some really good things and found a way to win at the end.”
Simplifying the playbook for Garcia
“Well we missed our shots. We missed the post. We missed the two fades. We got covered up on two other ones. We didn’t connect. We didn’t connect our passing. We weren’t in sync in the passing game, but the thing that we worked on, the things that we game planned and we practiced, it looked good during the week. Didn’t look so good on Saturday.
The running game did take a step up. Henry Parrish ran over a hundred and I think 15 yards, something of that nature. And again it was one of those back-and-forth defensive battles where we’re starting to play field position. Our punter, is a really good punter and played the game of hidden yardage, and was able to crank out a drive at the end of the first half, and then a drive at the end of regulation to send it into overtime.”
The gap between quarterbacks Garcia and Jacurri Brown
“Jake has got experience. He’s really shown in practice so he’s a good football player and Jacurri [Brown] is an excellent football player as well. Both those guys are really good. They’re different in what they do, and Jacurri’s got a great future. Obviously, we’re playing him now because we feel he can help us win. In terms of gaps, I don’t really throw that out there for the media. Those guys are working hard every single day, so proud of both of them.”
On injuries, and if he expects players back for the Florida State game
“Not sure. I think our guys are starting to adapt to missing guys. We hoped that going into the season that we would have guys like Zion Nelson, and [Will] Mallory and TVD (Tyler Van Dyke), and [Xavier] Restrepo on the field at the same time, we haven’t had that opportunity yet.
Ever since those things started happening, our guys started to adapt and realize this is football, and in football, this kind of stuff happens. Get the next man ready, next man up, and the guys, the best part about that is that the guys supported each other, and just kept bringing juice on the sideline, and kept just finding ways to make plays and just keep this thing going. Just stay in the fight. Stayed in the fight until it got done.”
On Defensive Tackle Leonard Taylor
“Well him and Darrell Jackson have established themselves as the starters, and about three and half four weeks ago, Leonard [Taylor] came in and decided, made a choice, just a conscious decision to change his eating habits, to change his training habits, to work harder in practice, and to be really assignment conscious.
He was put in a position to make plays and he made some plays on his own. He was outstanding. He was a game-changer on Saturday. Put those guys behind the sticks and caused all kinds of issues for them. He’s playing great football right now and we are going to need him to keep playing great football.”
On Florida State
“They’ve done a really good job with talent acquisition. They’re playing at a high level. Good football team.”
On if his players realize the magnitude of the Florida State game
“I think anybody associated with this university realizes how big this game is every single year. I remember being a player, that’s what you lived for. You waited for the schedule to come out to know what day, what time it was going to take place. Obviously an unbelievable opportunity. In my opinion, it will always be the best rivalry in football so, great opportunity.”
On red zone defense
“Well the guys had a lot of opportunities inside our ten yard-line and our defense has played really really stout. We stuffed out the shovel pass that got us a week ago. Run-wise, we were just able to hold our gap better and get some penetration, knock the run back. Played pass defense better, all and all just took another step. Great communication. Much better physicality and pad level up front. Used our hands better.
Our defense keeps improving. Week after week we keep getting better and better and if we can eliminate some of those big plays we can be outstanding. We can be an elite defense. So that’s what we’re working on. We played to those strengths on Saturday and played the field position game, and those guys were a tremendous reason why.”
On cleaning up the turnovers against Virginia
“It’s real right? If you turn the ball over in football it’s going to be hard to win football games, and the games that we have hadn’t had success, a large part of it is due to turnovers. It might be conservative but, I’ve been aggressive on fourth downs in the previous games and when we didn’t get it we put our defense in a tough spot, and all of sudden the games got away from us.
In a game like this, our defense playing so well, we chose to play field position. We chose to try and pin them deep and let the defense go to work. Our guys seem to get momentum from it. The defense held strong and kept finding ways to get the ball back and move it slowly. Credit to our special teams because the punt return game really set us up for success and gave us the opportunity to tie the game at the end of regulation.”
On Wide Receiver Xavier Restrepo returning from injury
“He was on a pitch count on Saturday. He got the plays that he needed to. Obviously, Brashard Smith has played really well, Jacolby George is healthy again now, so those are guys that we think are good football players and could be really good football players. And then outside, obviously Colbie Young has emerged and we got to keep pushing guys like [Frank] Ladson and Key’Shawn [Smith]. Mike Redding is invaluable and he’s healthy again. We’re finally getting healthy at that position. So we are looking forward to getting some more production there.”
On the rotation of the receivers
“I think you got to come out with your reality. Your best guys got to play most, but you do have to keep them fresh. It's something that as a program, you got to really emphasize, you got to enforce, and you got to have complete buy-in. Playing time is earned. Playing time is something that you go and you show that you can do in practice, and that you can be trusted to make plays. It’s not just handed out because you inherit it. So that’s what we’re emphasizing in practice. It’s got to show up in games as well right? In crunch moments, if you are a little bit banged up, find a way to fight through right? It’s ball. It hurts. It’s not time to tap out. It’s not time to take a break, the game’s on the line. Obviously, if you are really injured, you got to come out. If you are banged up, come on man, fight through, let’s go.”
On Jaylan Knighton not getting any touches in the Virginia game
“Jaylan Knighton’s a good football player. He’s worked hard in practice, and his touches are coming. This game Henry Parrish got hot. He was running hard. He was getting downhill and so we chose to go that route.”
On waiting for injuries to heal
“You got to leave the medical stuff to the medical people. It’s one of those things where you have to evaluate, you have to evaluate medically and then you got to come to the assessment is it a structural thing where true function is at risk, or health is at risk? You always hang on the side of things of ‘hey man you can’t play.’ And then there’s the other part of okay, you’re a little bit nicked up, and it’s a pain tolerance thing.
We are very honest with our guys and we tell them what could be done, but can you force a guy to play? No. Do you tell them the facts? Joe, you played for a long time in the NFL, that you are going to be expected to play, if you can’t, even though it hurts a little bit, you got to be honest about that part to so, transparency and honesty with players and parents that’s what it comes down to. I guess that’s the best way to put it.”
On recruiting
“I said it a million times and I will again. I watched Miami from afar for a long time as I been away and talent acquisition always has to be with player development, team development, is always together at the forefront of turning a program and rebuilding a program. We’re working hard at it. I think people obviously know, players and parents obviously know that we do it the right way. We’ve hired a great bunch of coaches. We got a great core of players that are working hard and building this thing the right way and they are going to have unbelievable opportunities. The future is bright so, we’re working at it and getting better and better man.”
“There was a point in time if you look at historically when Miami always dominated the NFL draft. That’s not just a sudden process. Really really good players that worked really really hard had a good mentality, found their way here. They were worked, they were coached, they were developed and it went on. Our players here currently are developing, they’re working hard, we’re working hard on that other aspect you talk about. When all that comes together, and when you take the time to do it right, that’s when the magic happens. It’s no different than when we were at Oregon. It’s the exact same process. No different than the other places that we’ve been at. So it’s a great process and we love every part of it man.”
On getting through year one
“Every place I’ve been at, minus one, it’s been a rebuilding process. So it’s all a matter of the starting point of a program. For example, we left behind a turnkey operation. A team that has won the conference championship multiple years, consecutive years with the best recruiting classes in its history. Coming here to Miami we’re excited about everything that has to do with the now, with the building process because it’s not built. It was not built and the commitment is now made, and there hasn’t been one up until now.
Football is not magic. Football is hard work. Football is hard-nosed people developing and working at it and it's not subject to noise and BS and nonsense. It doesn’t work that way. If it was, people wouldn’t take risk at opportunities that are filled with noise and junk. You put your dedication and your commitment in something you believe in because you know that even though you are going to have to work your tail off and it’s going to come with some difficult hard times, that in the end it’s going to be awesome. You got to have tough-minded people. That’s the kind of stuff I love. That’s what I dive into every single second of my existence, so here for every bit of it knowing exactly what we walked into, and what was done here for several years, to make sure we turn it around, and do it the right way, without BS, without nonsense, and without any damn noise.”
