‘Day 1 plus a little bit more.’ Cristobal: UM opens camp with more ‘size, power, speed’
‘Everyone is always super juiced, right?’
Those were University of Miami football coach Mario Cristobal’s first words to reporters Tuesday after Day 1 of fall camp created plenty of enthusiasm and teaching moments among several new coaches and dozens of new players at Greentree Field and initially the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility.
“There’s some improvement in most of them,’’ the coach said. “...Depth wise it’s gotten better, not exactly where you want it to be, but certainly an opportunity to build a lot more during camp. What sticks out the most is there’s competition at just about every position.”
The Hurricanes, intent on putting that 5-7 season behind them, look beefier. Whether that translates to pushing harder should be revealed in the coming days.
“We’re definitely bigger,’’ said Cristobal, in his second season as head coach. “We have more power. You want to hit certain benchmarks in the weight room and you want to make sure that matches up on the type of player they are. They have to be both. You can’t just have a weight room guy or you just can’t have a guy that just looks the part and can’t move people around. We have significantly increased our size, our power, our speed.
“It has been put to the test throughout the summer conditioning program. They had a good summer. It showed up today. There is always some rust, but it looked like a Day 1 plus a little bit more.”
Inside, outside
The Canes started the first half or so of practice inside, where the media had about 30 minutes of viewing. They later went onto Greentree for the closed portion.
Veterans such as All-American safety Kamren Kinchens took ownership, helping the youngsters during individual position drills. At one point he meticulously showed redshirt freshman defensive back Jaden Harris how to pivot his hips in tracking a pass. Fellow junior safety James Williams, who has changed his jersey number from 0 to 20 and is clearly filling out his 6-5, 215-pound frame, watched intently, smacking hands in solidarity with Kinchens.
“It feels great,’’ Kinchens said, “kind of like being a coach on the field. You’ve got to be a vocal leader, and you need that on the field, too. You could see when you were looking out there, a bunch of young guys and older guys kind of mixing in with ones, twos and threes. Everyone is just kind of getting work.’’
Added Kinchens: “They’re the guys I need to push me. I have to make sure I’m bringing them along. Anytime I see something, I’m saying something to them. And anytime they see something, they’re saying it to me.’’
Van Dyke
Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke also spoke, calling it “a simple’’ day getting reacclimated to practice. Like Kinchens, he said he was focused on “making sure everybody has positive energy throughout the entire camp.’’
“Leadership is a big thing that I’ve been working on,’’ Van Dyke said. “You’ve got to keep those guys motivated into the season, making sure everyone is staying in that playbook, making sure they know what they’ve got to do.’’
One position group that likely is further along than others such as the cornerbacks, who lost both starters (Tyrique Stevenson and DJ Ivey) to the NFL Draft, is the offensive line.
“Today we had a bunch of stuff in,’’ center Matt Lee said. “We didn’t run everything that we have in the book, but we ran a lot of it — a lot more than we would’ve on Day 1 of install back in March — and having the same guys, having your five offensive linemen carry over to fall camp and your quarterback, and several other guys on the offense, it just makes things a lot more smooth because at least with the ones, everyone knows what they’re doing.
“There’s a lot less mental teaching because we did it during the spring and we did it all summer, and we know what’s going on.”
More, from Cristobal:
▪ On 6-1, 195-pound Vanderbilt defensive back transfer Jadais Richard, who arrived in May and had an interception and pass breakout during media viewing: “Jadais is a really good player. Mind you, he started at nickel, at corner, at the boundary safety spot, the field safety spot last year at Vanderbilt. So he has more than flashed out there.’’
Cristobal said Richard could play in any of the defensive back positions, but would not specify where UM would like to use him. The Canes need depth after starting safeties Kinchens and Williams.
▪ On if anyone “flashed” Tuesday: “Oh, well I think, yeah, some guys did. I’d be better off putting some stuff together after watching film. You’d hate to mention a flash and then... But I guess what I’m saying is the biggest flash was the progress of culture -- running all the way on, all the way off the field, making sure attention to detail and finishing plays are at the forefront. Not perfect, but improvement.’’
▪ On how Van Dyke looked: “In terms of his health? Injury, form? He looks really good. He looks comfortable but urgent. ...Very pleased, fired up, happy for him, all that stuff and more.’’
This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 4:01 PM.
