Restrepo and Borregales, Hurricanes from the start, ready for emotional ‘last one in the Rock’
Xavier Restrepo knows the emotions are going to hit him pregame Saturday. Andres Borregales already expects to shed a tear or two — and for his mom to shed a lot more.
“My last game at Hard Rock as a University of Miami player,” Borregales said.
Saturday is senior day for the Hurricanes, who are No. 8 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, as they host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons for their final home game of the regular season at Hard Rock Stadium.
And while the Hurricanes will honor 27 seniors, Restrepo and Borregales are among a small list of that group who have been with the Hurricanes since their freshman year.
The only other seniors who have been with Miami from the start of his career are wide receiver Jacolby George and sixth-year senior long snapper Mason Napper, although a few redshirt and fifth-year juniors (namely offensive linemen Jalen Rivers and Ryan Rodriguez and tight end Elijah Arroyo) fit this bill as well.
They went through a coaching change from Manny Diaz to Mario Cristobal. They stuck with the program as it worked to get back to being a championship contender, something the team has reached this season.
“They’ve endured hardship. They’ve seen some tough times. They’ve gone through struggles,” Cristobal said. “It’s an education that is priceless. The class that just walked in has had a very different path, and I would say educational piece to their development as compared to the ones that we’re talking about — the guys like Elijah Arroyo and guys like Xavier Restrepo, guys that have been here for some time. It’s really unique, what they’ve done, what they’ve gone through, and I think it’s made them more calloused in a good way. Certainly has grown their resilience, and it’s helped others understand the importance and the urgency as it relates to every part of your preparation.”
And now, they have one more game in the place they call home with all of their goals for this season still on the horizon if the Hurricanes (9-1, 5-1 ACC) can win against Wake Forest (4-6, 2-4 ACC) and then close out the season with a road win against Syracuse (7-3, 4-3 ACC) on Nov. 30.
“It’s definitely going to be an emotional one. Last one in the Rock,” Restrepo said. “But I think the main thing is just winning. We have control of our own destiny, and we just have to go 1-0 each and every single week, so all our main focus is on Wake Forest.”
Restrepo ‘means the world to this program’
Restrepo, a fifth-year senior, has already secured his spot as one of the Hurricanes’ greats. He has the school record for career receptions (186) and receiving yards (2,651) and could potentially tie or break the record for career touchdown catches — he has 20, six shy of tying Michael Irvin’s school record of 26.
But it’s what he has done behind the scenes to get to that point that he takes the most pride in.
“No matter what’s thrown at me, I just look to God and overcome everything that is put in front of me,” Restrepo said. “I feel like I’m a very, very consistent guy. I come to work each and every single day, no questions asked. One of the first ones in the building, one of the last ones out of the building. I just try to, you know, put all the work in so that it shows on Saturdays, and if it doesn’t, it’s just a part of the process.”
Restrepo was an undersized receiver at 5-10 and 170 pounds, a three-star recruit according to the 247Sports Composite ranking, when he committed to the Hurricanes in the Class of 2020. He played sparingly his first two seasons and then missed five games midway through the 2022 season with a foot injury.
Everything finally clicked the past two seasons. He had a school-record 85 catches for 1,092 yards and six touchdowns last season. This season, he enters the Wake Forest game with 55 catches for 934 yards and 10 touchdowns. He’s the first UM player with double-digit touchdown catches in a season since Phillip Dorsett in 2014 and needs just three more to tie Leonard Hankerson’s school record of 13 touchdown receptions in a season. He also needs just 66 more yards to become the first UM player to ever have multiple seasons with 1,000 receiving yards.
“He means the world to the program, and the program means the world to him,” Cristobal said. “He is the epitome of hard work.”
Borregales learned to excel under pressure
As for Borregales, he has been a steady fixture for the Hurricanes all four years he has been at school.
He became Miami’s starting kicker as a true freshman and has been a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, given annually to college football’s best kicker, each of the past three seasons. Borregales’ brother, Jose, is the only kicker in Hurricanes history to win the award, doing so in 2020 — the year before Borregales enrolled at UM.
“We’ve said on several occasions how valuable he is — maybe not enough,” Cristobal said. “Honestly, we feel he’s the very best [kicker] in the country. He’s developed as a leader.”
Borregales has made 13 of 14 field goals this season and is a perfect 48 for 48 on extra-point attempts.
For his career, Borregales has made 69 of 81 field goal attempts and 169 of 170 PATs. His 376 points scored are third in school history behind Michael Badgley (403) and Carlos Huerta (397).
Borregales said the thing he learned most about himself during his time at UM is “how much pressure I can take.” He still thinks about his freshman year, when he missed a potential game-winning 33-yard field goal as time expired in a 30-28 loss to Virginia and how that “helped me mature a lot faster.”
“I wouldn’t change anything these past four years of how everything unfolded,” Borregales said, “but yeah, [my time at Miami] shaped me just to become more more mature and just handle pressure situations a lot better.”
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