Why Cristobal’s jarring comment is right approach. And UM player, draft nuggets
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday:
▪ Because of superior talent, the Canes will be favored in every game this season except potentially their Nov. 7 rematch at Notre Dame.
But Mario Cristobal is determined to fight off something that can somewhat neutralize a talent advantage and always looms as a threat: complacency and contentment.
Though Cristobal historically warns against players believing all the good things said about them - he calls it rat poison - his comments after Saturday’s spring game reached a whole new level.
“These guys have no reason, no right to hear any praise about where they are right now,” he said. “They’ve done nothing, absolutely nothing. We intend to have the most challenging and productive offseason of our time at Miami.”
Asked if this could be UM’s best and deepest offense in years - on par or better than even the Cam Ward-led offense, Cristobal would hear none of it.
“I wouldn’t rate anything until games are played,” he said. “How many times you see [a team in the] top 25 preseason and half of those teams don’t make it to postseason? We recognize we’ve enhanced the talent in several areas and are working on depth in others. We have a long, long way to go. We are encouraged, enthused about it. [But] these guys have no reason, no right to hear any praise about where they are right now.”
Like most coaches, Cristobal sometimes delivers messages to his players through the media. That was one particularly forceful one.
Two other comments that mildly surprised us from Cristobal but are appreciated by a media contingent that always prefers candor over coach-speak:
1). Cristobal, multiple times, has said the team’s outside receivers are not doing enough to win 50-50 balls.
2). His criticism of the backup linebackers was unusually blunt on Thursday, when he said: “Chase [Smith] and Mo [Toure] are absolute studs. The rest of that room? They have to grow up, be mature, be about football or they’ll get their ass kicked every single day and won’t be able to play at Miami.”
Several of them (Kamal Bonner, Ezekiel Marcelin, Cam Pruitt) responded well Saturday.
The view here: Some of these comments, including the “done absolutely nothing” remark after a run to the national title game, might seem jarring or a bit harsh, but I think it’s a smart approach by Cristobal to keep his players on edge.
How many times over two decades have the Canes been tripped up by teams with lesser talent, due to overconfidence and myriad other reasons?
Cristobal is going to do everything in his power to keep that from happening, so there’s no 2026 step back after a giant 2025 step forward.
▪ From a pass-rushing standpoint, there might not be an enormous drop-off from Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor to Missouri transfer Damon Wilson, who was third in the SEC in sacks last season (nine) and 13th in the country with 54 quarterback pressures.
But Wilson must show that he’s a better than average run defender.
PFF ranked Wilson 95th among 800 edge players last season (Bain was third, Mesidor fourth) but there was a big disparity in his grade as a pass-rusher (78th) compared to as a run-defender (352nd). Conversely, PFF rated Mesidor fifth and Bain 12th as run defenders, among 800 edge players.
Wilson and defensive line coach Jason Taylor have been working on improving that aspect of his game and setting the edge.
“It comes down to effort, and learning more about details,” Wilson said after Saturday’s spring game. “Not just be a pass rusher, be a complete player.”
He hasn’t studied tape of NFL players with Taylor, but Wilson said, “I look at [former first-round picks] Brian Burns and Will Anderson as my comps. I like those two guys.” Burns has 71 sacks in seven seasons; Anderson has 30 in three seasons.
Like Wilson, edge player Marquise Lightfoot also had a very good spring, though he missed the spring game. And Armondo Blount is reliable, a stout run defender and will play a lot.
▪ Matthew McCoy’s transition from guard to right tackle was a success this spring. He said the biggest positional adjustment has been demonstrating “consistent footwork.”
How would he size up his play at tackle?
“I can always get better,” he said. “[But] I can play anywhere in the o-line.”
Credit departing NFL-bound right tackle Francis Mauigoa for sitting and watching tape with McCoy - just the two of them - and teaching McCoy about nuances of playing the position.
“He’s always trying to help me, trying to coach me,” McCoy said. “He’s helped me at everything.”
▪ In an interview with former Georgia defensive lineman David Pollack, NFL-bound quarterback Ty Simpson revealed that he seriously considered signing a one-year, $6.5 million deal to be the Hurricanes’ starting quarterback this season.
But Simpson, who was Alabama’s starter last season, opted for the NFL draft after discussing the matter with ESPN analyst and former Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban.
“I think the last offer [Miami’s] was definitely one that I just had to sit down and consider, because it would have been life-changing money,” Simpson said. “It would have made me the highest-paid player in college, and it was something to where I was like, I can’t just ignore this. I have to sit down and think about it. That’s how I am, I don’t want to do anything sporadic. I want to sit down and think it all out, and it really just came down to how I wanted to be remembered and what do I want to do.”
Simpson said he spoke with Saban before making his decision and “the things he was talking about were, do you want to play football in college, or do you want to play football professionally? And he was like, ‘Take the money out of it, take the rounds out of it, what do you want to do next year?’ And without a doubt, without hesitation, I said, ‘I want to play professional football.’ And he was like, ‘Well, there’s your answer.’ It was something that I’ve always dreamed of, and I felt that I was ready to take that next step and be the face of a franchise and lead a locker room.”
UM, whose offers to Brendon Sorsby and Simpson were rejected, then pivoted to Duke’s Darian Mensah, who was second in the nation in TD passes last season (behind Fernando Mendoza) and impressed everyone during spring practice. Sorsby left Cincinnati for Texas Tech. Simpson is expected to be a first- or second-round pick in Thursday’s draft.
▪ In a comprehensive piece on 19 draft-eligible quarterbacks, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero quoted 10 NFL officials anonymously on UM’s Carson Beck, who went 37-6 as a starter and is considered the No. 3 or No. 4 quarterback in this week’s draft.
Three comments from that piece:
1). “He throws a nice ball,” a second AFC executive said. “He just has some misses that you’re like, what the [expletive] dude? It’s usually crossing routes, they’re always behind, and that was not just this year but in the past. He’s got a feel for the game. He’s smart. He can progress. He can see it. He can process. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns into a solid starter, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s just a No. 2.”
2). An AFC coordinator: “The guy whose film I was surprised with the most was actually Carson Beck’s. Carson Beck has played some football. He’s got the athleticism and the size. He’s got the arm. He plays the position really well the majority of the time, and then it’s the outliers that you just hope when he gets to the league and he gets more consistent, he’s able to iron out. He’s the only guy outside of Fernando that I think really has a shot to develop into a starter.”
3). An AFC scouting director: “He’s matured a lot and I think he’s won a lot of people over through this process. Which is good for this kid, because this time last year, the reports weren’t great about his personality. I still don’t think he’s an alpha, QB1 type of kid. But he is older and he’s been through a lot of [expletive] and I think it’s been good for him. First quarterback ever booed at the combine, and he threw the ball pretty well. He’s been through a lot of adversity. He’s started a lot of games. He’s won a lot of games. I think he’s going to go higher than people think.”
Here’s the full piece from Pelissero, and it’s incredibly detailed.
▪ Mauigoa, who could be drafted anywhere from No. 3 to around the Dolphins’ range at 11, has a herniated disc in his back, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Monday.
“The back injury is not a significant issue now, and it is asymptomatic, but teams say that if it worsens at all, Mauigoa would then need surgery that could sideline him roughly three months,” Schefter said. Some teams think he’ll eventually need the surgery at some point either way. One front office executive said last week that if the injury flares up in training camp and requires surgery, it might potentially end Mauigoa’s rookie season.
“No team sounds overly concerned about the long-term ramifications of the injury, but the herniated disc has at least been discussed in draft rooms across the league.”
Here are my 25 notes, thoughts and nuggets after the spring game this past Saturday.
This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 9:13 AM.
