The next step for Hurricanes lineman Francis Mauigoa? ‘He’s striving for perfection’
Emotions are going to be high in the Mauigoa house in a couple weeks when the NFL Draft gets underway. Francisco Mauigoa, who served as the Miami Hurricanes’ starting linebacker the past two seasons, will very likely hear his name called before the three-day event is over.
“We’re excited for that,” said Francis Mauigoa, Francisco’s younger brother and the Miami Hurricanes’ starting right tackle. “That’s in God’s hands. We’re just happy for him and wish him the best.”
Come next year, it will be Francis Mauigoa who will likely be going through the draft process. The offensive lineman has thrived in his first two seasons with the Hurricanes, becoming a starter as soon as he stepped on campus.
As he enters his third season at UM, Mauigoa will be an integral player with Miami’s most experienced position group.
“He’s striving for perfection, for absolute excellence,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “He just goes. He’s got his foot on the gas. He is unbelievably fun to coach because every single day, he brings it, and he brings it with a great attitude.”
Mauigoa has started all 26 games the Hurricanes have played during his time with the team. He was a Freshman All-American in 2023 and got better as a sophomore.
After giving up five sacks as a freshman, Mauigoa permitted just one as a sophomore.
After committing nine penalties as a freshman, he was flagged just five times as a sophomore.
His Pro Football Focus grade jumped as well, going from 68.1 as a freshman to 71 as a sophomore in large part due to a significant improvement in his pass-blocking grade (from 64.8 as a freshman to 72.7 as a sophomore).
And Mauigoa knows there’s still more room for him to grow.
“I’ve been grinding, I’ve been working,” said Mauigoa, who was a second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honoree last season. “Nobody can perfect their game, but if you can improve every day, and that’s more than enough for me.”
Added Cristobal: “I think we all know that he’s a special young man. He’s a special talent with elite power, elite mind-set, elite upbringing, elite parenting. He’s been pushed. He’s been challenged since the beginning. I think what he does is he challenges himself as a person to be a better leader. He challenges himself to be a better community presence. He does a lot of work with every possible community service opportunity. And then with him, he understands the game really well now, so we do want to see that next level.”
That next level will come to fruition in large part because of his athleticism. Even at 6-6 and in the 340-pound range, Mauigoa has a rare blend of speed (he has been clocked running 20 mph) and brute force that is a dream for an offensive lineman.
“He takes great pride in his physicality and his conditioning,” Cristobal said. “He’s probably 20% body fat at that weight, which gives him the most muscle density of any athlete we’ve had here at the University of Miami in football.”
And Mauigoa won’t have to do it alone. The Hurricanes’ offensive line is loaded with experience. In addition to Mauigoa, Miami returns Markel Bell at left tackle (who started five games when usual starter Jalen Rivers was hurt), Ryan Rodriguez (one start last season, two total) and Matthew McCoy (11 starts last season, 12 starts total) to compete for the starting left guard, and Anez Cooper (13 starts last season, 30 starts total) at right guard. New center James Brockermeyer, who transferred in from TCU, started 12 games last season.
“We got players in our room,” Mauigoa said. “We’re all just trying to get on the field and trying to compete, to play in the game. Every day has been a competition.”
.JPG)