CORAL GABLES - Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal goes into his third season as optimistically as possible.

Following practice from Day 1 on Wednesday (July 31), he spoke with a pool of media members about the collection of talent he has on the roster:

“The team dynamics are really important. We feel really good about the blend of having a little bit more than a handful of players that have been here for a couple of years. And then you have a talented freshman class that played last year and one that just arrived. Then you have some really talented transfer portal guys that arrived mostly in January, and then a couple that arrived in the summer. It’s a neat blend because they’re very like-minded individuals that want to get after it.”

Cristobal did not stop there:

“They’ve taken to the standards of practice and to start protocols relatively quickly. The leadership on Day 1 was very solid. It’s what you want to see.”

Quarterback Cameron Ward recapped Day 1 from his own perspective

“The energy was good. We didn’t have a great day. We had a good enough first day. We had a lot of guys not full speed. But that’s something we can get better at as we get used to the heat. New guys coming in, still getting acclimated to the heat. It was a decent first day. Not where we want to be as offense, but we just gotta get better.”

Ward pointed out some opportunities for his offense to improve:

“We weren’t explosive as an offense as we need to be”, Ward said. “We just didn’t play our brand of football the whole time. We had spurts here and there, but we gotta be consistent. That’s the thing for us. The little stuff, the little details, we didn’t emphasize that enough.”

For defensive Rueben Bain and his side of the ball, it was a different story:

“It was definitely a great first day,” Bain said. “You could tell it was the first day, but it still wasn’t bad. We all performed well as a whole unit. We were getting after it. 7-on, inside run. A lot of guys made some plays. I’m pretty sure the offense is gonna try to bring it tomorrow.”

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