Cristobal dishes on defense: ‘Last year, we were very easy to figure out.’ And Beck, more
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday:
▪ UM began team workouts (another phase of their offseason program) on Monday, and coach Mario Cristobal said he expected quarterback Carson Beck to be fully cleared for that after offseason elbow surgery.
“Carson has been throwing for weeks,” Cristobal told WQAM’s Joe Rose on Friday. “He’s been ripping it and it looks good.”
In an interview taped last week with CBS’ Josh Pate, Cristobal said: “He’s almost at 100%. Everything is full throttle.”
Cristobal said Beck’s “knowledge of the game speaks loudly of a guy who has been prepping his entire life. We brought in a person who has a lot to prove more in the sense of winning and team. He understands clearly what he’s been through, in this college football journey, what’s important, in terms of the next level.”
Cristobal sees similarities in Beck and Cam Ward in terms of determination and advanced knowledge of defenses, though he said their personalities are different.
Cristobal said people that he trusts, who knew Beck at Georgia, “spoke the world of him as a competitor, team guy.”
▪ UM’s 19 additions from the transfer portal were a bit on the high side (compared to some other major programs), but Cristobal makes a distinction among the additions.
He said that five of the 19 have three years of eligibility remaining and “we view that like we do a freshman.”
Those five: cornerbacks Xavier Lucas (Wisconsin) and Ethan O’Connor (Washington State), safety Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State), former North Dakota State running back ChaMar Brown and ex-North Carolina State linebacker Kamal Bonner.
Though everything is fluid in this new era of college football, Lucas and Poyser look like they could be clearly above-average long-term starters. Bonner should be a No. 3 linebacker at worst, with potential for more. O’Connor should be a rotational cornerback.
And Brown gives UM badly needed depth behind Mark Fletcher Jr. and Jordan Lyle, with the potential to carve out a regular package of carries and become a No. 2 or potential starter down the road.
UM loves the physicality of Brown, who ran for 244 times for 1,181 yards (4.8 per carry) and 15 touchdowns in his one year at North Dakota State and won the Jerry Rice award as the top freshman in FCS.
“On any roster you are going to carry five scholarship backs, maybe six,” Cristobal told Rose, with Brown giving UM five.
“He rushed for 1,000 yards in a tough league at 225 pounds. He’s a great addition to our roster. He’s a tough, physical, downhill slashing runner. We needed a guy, sophomore or freshman, and he checked all the boxes. And the [three] years he has left” was a positive.
▪ Pate extracted a very good answer from Cristobal about UM’s defensive regression last season and what must change.
“We lost our way last year,” Cristobal said of a unit that permitted 25.3 points per game, ranking 70th of 133 FBS schools. “We opened the season playing really good defense, communicated well, lined up well. We suffered a couple injuries in an area where weren’t really deep.. Damari [Brown], Jadais [Richard]. When they were injured, it went downhill fast. But it shouldn’t have been to the level it got to.”
He said the problems were “communication, alignment and assignment. The simplicity of that makes you play fast. We went from playing fast and physical to being uncertain and losing a step and playing slow and looking confused. It was painful because that was a generational [UM] offense.”
Cristobal never mentioned dismissed 2023-24 defensive coordinator Lance Guidry by name and Cristobal took accountability: “I maybe should have done ‘this’ for the coordinator, maybe brought him another assistant, maybe helped him change something [strategically].”
But “I didn’t think during the year, to try to fix it, we had enough answers to make a complete overhaul,” Cristobal said, adding “it was nowhere need the standard” and “a change had to be made” after the season.
He said new coordinator Corey Hetherman’s system is a good fit for UM’s talent because “we recruited this team to be a four-down aggressive defense. In coach Hetherman.. we see a lot of what Miami saw in Greg Schiano in 1998-99, a guy with not only a high level of expertise but a system that kicks ass that is very aggressive, very sound, communicates well... that disguises things well on the back end and can play you in base, with movement, with pressure, can simulate pressure.
“Last year, we were very easy to figure out, especially after Game 3 and Game 4. And coach Hetherman is a tough ass son of a gun; he’s exactly what we needed.”
▪ After landing a commitment from offensive tackle and consensus top-three prospect Jackson Cantwell, UM’s Class of 2026 recruiting class is now ranked eighth by Rivals, eighth by On3 and ninth by 247.
ESPN ranks UM’s class 12th, with this assessment from Craig Haubert:
“The Hurricanes are adding pieces to field a dominant offensive line. They could lose several projected 2025 starters after this season but are adding big men who can step in and project a bright future in the trenches. In addition to landing the top-rated interior OL in the 2025 class, they have added several OLs to their 2026 class, led by No. 1 tackle Jackson Cantwell.
“Much like current standout OT Francis Mauigoa, who was a five-star himself and a Year 1 starter, Cantwell could step in at one of the tackle spots upon arriving in South Florida. He is a massive presence at roughly 6-7 and 320 pounds and carries his size well. In addition to being powerful, he possesses good quickness and flexibility, and much like Mauigoa is being projected to be a high NFL draft pick.
“QB Dereon Coleman has room for growth but has a quick release and accuracy. Four-star Miami native Jordan Campbell is 6-2, 220 pounds with the versatility to make plays in pursuit and the bend and power that portend a potential impact pass rusher. He’s a candidate to take a leap with college coaching. The Hurricanes landed a trio of offensive linemen recently, including 6-6 tackle Joel Ervin, who flipped from ACC rival Louisville.”
▪ Quick stuff, Part 1: Cristobal, on adding stiff competition at linebacker, receiver, cornerback and running back in the portal: “You can’t say you want to be surrounded by dawgs and not bring anyone else” in…
Asked by Rose about portal pickups Mohamed Toure (the Rutgers linebacker), Keionte Scott (the Auburn cornerback) and Jakobe Thomas (the Tennessee safety), Cristobal said: “All three provide a ton of experience at a high level. All have played well and physically. They fit our culture.”
USA Today ranks UM 10th in its post-spring rankings…
▪ Quick stuff, Part 2: The Dolphins bypassed signing receiver Sam Brown and center Zach Carpenter after recent tryouts. Meanwhile, tight end Cam McCormick was unable to find a team willing to give him even a tryout after nine years playing college football…
Ward, now with the Tennessee Titans, is the first quarterback selected first overall who wasn’t given a prime-time game in his first NFL season since Carolina’s Cam Newton in 2011.
Ward, incidentally, was thrilled that the Titans signed his former UM teammate, receiver Xavier Restrepo, as an undrafted free agent.
“He is one of the most underrated players that was in the draft this year,” Ward told the Titans’ website. “I think every time he steps on the field, he remembers everything, and he is going to continue to prove it. He was one of the best route runners in college football last year, he is first team All-conference, he is All-American, he never lost in man coverage. He is a back-to-back 1,000-yard receiver, so why wouldn’t you push for him?”
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM.
