Here’s what Mario Cristobal had to say about Hurricanes’ second fall scrimmage
The Miami Hurricanes held their second scrimmage of fall camp on Sunday, two weeks ahead of their marquee season opener against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Aug. 31.
Coach Mario Cristobal’s assessment, as relayed during an in-house interview with UM radio analyst Don Bailey Jr. released by the team (the scrimmage, like the first of camp, was closed to media): The offense stepped up early, and the defense showed up in spurts.
Here are Cristobal’s full comments from the interview.
What did you see out of the offense?: “The offense got in gear early, and they did it both on the ground and and hit some big plays in the passing game. And then the defense did respond, which is what you want to see. And then the offense responded again. Last week, I felt the defense had the upper hand. Today, I felt the offense had the upper hand. Had a lot of substitutions, put a lot of guys in really prominent roles today to see if they could handle it. We’ll check out the film to see who did well, who didn’t, and keep going from here and just stay in camp mentality mode.”
What stood out on the defensive side?: “Well, I think that we were really physical and fit the run well last week, and we have all week. Today, it showed up at times, and then we plugged in a bunch of different guys. At times, they did and at times they didn’t. And then on offense, at times, guys stepped up and blocked the way they’re supposed to block with the physicality and finished like they’re supposed to. And other times like [a] fourth and one stop by the defense, unbelievable play on defense and unacceptable on offense. So we got what we want in terms of the back and forth. We got what we want in terms of a team that’s now in practice 15. You feel the fatigue and fought through it because we had to push today. You have to have a breakthrough when you’re tired, both mentally and physically, and come out and play good football.”
And you worked on special teams too?: Every single phase. Ones, twos, and I’d say most of the threes got work as well on punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return. I mean, all our kicking units got work. All our place kickers got work as well. The return game got a lot of work today. And we feel really strongly about those units.”
With classes starting at Miami next week, how does that change or affect the schedule?: “It doesn’t. It never stops. Preparation never stops. And you’d like to think that what we do in a camp prepares them and gives them I would say a foundation for being able to handle your classes, your schedule, your regimen and still being able to take care of football at the highest level. When you’re a Miami hurricane, there’s no compromise. Academics are going to be held to an elite standard. Football is going to be held to an elite standard. And they know that. So now it’s just getting regimented. Time management is critical. A lot of new guys are starting their first year in college. This ain’t like high school where the bell rings and it’s go to period two and it rings again and you go to period three. We fill in the gaps with stuff for them to do.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2025 at 1:51 PM.
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