Miami Hurricanes finalize 2022 schedule. And Cristobal making recruiting inroads
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday:
▪ The schedule confronting Mario Cristobal in his first season as UM’s coach is somewhat daunting.
On paper, the most difficult games are at Texas A&M, at Clemson and at Virginia Tech.
UM has two other road games: at Georgia Tech and at Virginia.
The home games: FSU, North Carolina, Duke, Pittsburgh, Southern Mississippi, Middle Tennessee State and Bethune-Cookman.
Dates haven’t been announced for any games except Southern Mississippi (Sept. 10), Texas A&M (Sept. 17) and Middle Tennessee (Sept. 24).
The 2022 schedule includes three teams currently ranked in the Associated Press poll: No. 13 Pittsburgh (11-2), No. 19 Clemson (9-3) and No. 23 Texas A&M (8-4).
Miami will be heavy favorites in its three nonconference home games. Southern Miss finished 3-9 this season. Middle Tennessee is 6-6 entering its Bahama Bowl game against Toledo.
▪ Recruiting notes: Since the coaching change, UM has reached out to most of Miami’s eight Class of 2022 commitments to solidify that they’re coming. Per two recruiting sites, Louisiana-based receiver Landon Ibieta, a UM nonbinding commitment, hasn’t heard from UM since the coaching change...
Three-star Tennessee-based receiver Isaiah Horton, another UM commitment, heard from the Canes since Cristobal’s hiring and will visit this weekend.. Other UM nonbinding commits expected to visit this weekend include quarterback Jacurri Brown, cornerback Khamauri Rogers and cornerback Chris Graves...
Per Canesport, several Oregon commits who don’t live in Florida were told they won’t be pursued by Miami. Cristobal appears to be focusing on South Florida recruits (Shemar Stewart, Nyjalik Kelly, Earl Little Jr., etc.) with select targets out of state. Kelly will visit UM this weekend, per 247 Sports....
One former Oregon commitment that Cristobal wants for UM — Texas-based three star guard Cameron Williams — decommitted from Oregon on Wednesday and is now considering Miami, but doesn’t plan to sign until February.
Cristobal also would love to land former Oregon commit Kelvin Banks, a five-star offensive tackle from Texas, but that appears unlikely.
▪ A high-ranking UM official on the hiring of athletic director Dan Radakovich: “Big fundraiser, classy guy. He knows the alumni and the fan base and how we operate. Miami is different from other schools; we don’t have a lot of alumni in the area; many are out of state.
“He’s a football guy. He’s honest. He knows how to talk to people, not arrogant, doesn’t come across as better than you, which is important when you meet with donors and alumni. People want to listen to someone who’s a regular person. He knows the inside out of the ACC. I like everything about him. He’s got the abilities we’re looking for and he’s been here.”
▪ One UM player conveyed that players were very impressed by Cristobal in his initial meeting with the team. No surprise there. He certainly has a commanding presence.
▪ In recent years, several former UM players have voiced displeasure about not being invited to come back to campus to give tips to current players.
Former UM All-American Bryant McKinnie, who attended Cristobal’s news conference Tuesday, believes that will change. Cristobal was a graduate assistant when McKinnie played at UM.
In recent years, did McKinnie feel welcome to come back to campus to help players with technique?
“Initially,” McKinnie said. “Some coaches, no. Certain coaches caused separation. And you had a new coach come in and say, ‘we will let you guys come back.’ But then they say, ‘we don’t want you guys around too much’ because you might be trying to take our position, our job, which was never the case. We just wanted to be supportive.
“Coach will take advantage of his resources, and that’s a big thing. If you need me to answer questions or give someone feedback, I would do it. I’m really glad to have him back here because he knows the history from a player and a coach, winning two national championships as a player, winning a national championship as a GA here. He knows the work ethic, the drive, what it means to put on a University of Miami uniform.
“Some of the coaches in the past didn’t understand our program, the swagger, the family. He knows all these things, been a part of these things. To have someone back to re-implement that can have us on the right track.”
▪ Cristobal’s wife Jessica said this week that the couple — who met in South Beach in 2005 — missed South Florida so much that they would come back here for every vacation while Cristobal was at Oregon. They have two children: Mario Mateo, who’s 11, and Rocco, who’s 10.
Jessica’s parents live in Georgia, but Cristobal’s family is in South Florida, including his mother Clara, 81, who has been hospitalized recently.
“We met in South Beach while he was tight ends coach at Miami, so this is full circle for us,” she said. “We met here, we got married here and then we moved away and now we’re back. We would come any free chance we got. Any vacation time, we would come back to Miami to see family, and that was just so important to us. We didn’t take vacation to other places. We would come here.”
The appeal of South Florida to them?
“It’s such a melting pot of amazing culture and vibrancy and life and the weather is beautiful and there’s so much to do,” Jessica said. “It’s a special place.
“We love to be outside. Love to go to the beach. We love concerts. So excited about coming back to big concerts. Football culture here is phenomenal.”
They enjoyed visits to “Prime 112, Joe’s Stone Crab. For his [51st] birthday in September, I had Joe’s flown into Oregon. He was so happy. It’s natural we came home and blended right back in. We’re so excited.”
The quality she most admires about her husband? “His values. Integrity. He’s a man of good character.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 4:43 PM.
