Cristobal halts UM practice for not-so-quiet chat with Hurricanes. And coach’s QB update
As far as we know, no one ever accused Mario Cristobal of being a coddler.
On Thursday, a week and two days before the University of Miami spring game, Cristobal halted football practice when his players halted doing what he expected from them. They weren’t running between drills, weren’t focused enough, weren’t practicing with passion.
It was time for a not-so-quiet chat, one that the Hurricanes seemed to appreciate.
“Oh yeah, man, Coach Cristobal, he’s not just saying it, man. He’s really doing it,’’ middle linebacker Corey Flagg told reporters.. “Like practice today, he stopped practice because he just didn’t like the atmosphere, the way we were doing things, the tempo. We were walking off the field, so he stopped and got on us. He doesn’t let up. It’s practice 10, practice 11. This is the time we kind of get droopy.
“He’s not letting up on us.”
Flagg was asked if there was an adjustment period after Cristobal took over for Manny Diaz, considered a players’ coach whose practices, at least during media viewing and according to others close to the program, were neither as intense nor as spirited.
“Yeah, man, everything,’’ Flagg said. “It’s a brand new culture, a brand new way of doing things. You gotta do everything the same way. That’s the thing he preaches to us.”
Players are told to sit in front of their classrooms and that “early is on time,’’ Flagg said. “All those different things, man, it stays in the back of our head. The way we do anything is the way we do everything.”
Cristobal’s message, not delivered during media practice availability: “You gotta attack,’’ Flagg said. “We weren’t being physical enough for him. We were walking between the horns. Little stuff that [other] people pass by is really big. He doesn’t look past any of that stuff.”
Did he yell or was he calm?
“Oh no,’’ Flagg said. “He yelled at us. He got on us.”
Defensive tackle Jordan Miller, entering his final season, concurred.
“It’s more disciplinary, but it’s good for us,’’ Miller said. “It’s like, if you’re not here on time, you get disciplined for that. If you mess up on this, they’re not [going to] sugarcoat and put you off to the side and be like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ They’re going to critique you right there, like then and there, and get you right.
“It’s a standard.’’
Miller said it’s been like that “for weeks now,’’ and that he “kind of felt” that something with the boss was brewing in Thursday’s session. “I was like, ‘It’s not going right. We’re going to get stopped at some point in time or he’s going to eventually cut it off.’ But when he did, it was no surprise for most of us. We were ready for it.”
Cristobal speaks
Cristobal addressed reporters Thursday for the first time since March 26. He said the practice load is “now much heavier, meaning that we’re sustaining six-, eight-, 10-, 12-play drives, working just about every situation... There’s progress, and there’s a ways to go. Our level of consistency is not where it needs to be.
“Our level of physicality is not where it needs to be. And we really have to just drive that, knowing that it takes time to improve that. It takes time to establish that type of DNA and mentality. But we’re not coming off of it. The only way we can progress from a physical standpoint is to practice it, watch it on tape, learn from it, walk through it, teach it and then rep it again and again and again.
“We go hard. Spring football around here is very serious.”
Backup QB packages
With starter Tyler Van Dyke, backup Jake Garcia and newcomer Jacurri Brown looking more impressive with each passing practice session, Cristobal was asked by the Miami Herald if he considered creating packages for his backup to get him into games “on a regular basis.’’
The coach declined to answer specifically, saying he was “more interested in continuing to install the offense and helping guys get better. I think any comment outside of that starts a narrative that could go this way, that way, and just don’t want to do that. And I say that respectfully.”
Cristobal lauded all three, and did say this: “Whether it be a quarterback, an offensive lineman, a wide receiver — it doesn’t matter the position. If a guy shows that he can help us win, he’s going to play. We’re going to find ways to get guys in games. And that relates to anybody on the field.
“The quarterback room in general, they’re very well coached. As a leader, [offensive coordinator Josh] Gattis has done a great job. As a quarterback coach, Frank Ponce is “very demanding... He’s very attention-to-detail oriented. You see guys just being very, I would say, accurate because their decision-making processes are being sped up and they’re being held accountable. So pre- to post-snap read decisions are becoming much more clear.
“...Those guys are all getting better.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 4:12 PM.
