Cristobal, on UM NIL: ‘Pretty obvious Miami is blowing people away. And not by a little’
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday, following the final spring practice before Saturday’s noon sold-out spring game in Fort Lauderdale:
▪ The NIL era of college football — which allows players to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness — has been very good to Miami, thanks to deep-pocketed businessmen willing to open their wallets (from John Ruiz to Dan Lambert to owners of car dealerships) to the deft handling of NIL opportunities by agents Drew Rosenhaus and Malki Kawa and the agent colleagues in their respective firms, among others.
For example, four UM players have landed deals to drive pricey cars — free of charge — as long as they’re UM students: quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and safety Kamren Kinchens (in deals struck by Rosenhaus Sports) and defensive tackle Leonard Taylor and wide receiver Jacolby George (in deals struck by Kawa).
Last season, Lambert gave each UM scholarship player $500 to promote his mixed martial arts gyms and hopes to increase that amount this season.
Other big deals are said to be in the works.
So is UM head coach Mario Cristobal making NIL opportunities a big part of his pitch to recruits?
He gave a lengthy answer when I asked him Thursday:
“Football is changing and like anything else in life, you adapt to how things change. It’s real neat that guys can profit off their name, image and likeness. I think it sells itself. Let’s call it what it is. I can go and grab statistical information that can blow people away on the financial capabilities of a city like Miami, its alumni and how well it’s doing in the NIL world. But I think that’s already out there. That has been advertised and highlighted.
“I like to focus on the other stuff. That’s a piece of it and it’s reality. We don’t ignore it. But I think it’s obvious to the rest of the world that if you want to compare what’s being done here with everywhere else, it’s pretty obvious Miami is blowing people away. And not by a little.
“Now the combination of having the opportunity to get a private school education and being coached by some of these assistant coaches. I still walk in the door and I’m like, ‘Whoa, that’s Charlie Strong. There’s Kevin Steele. There’s [Joe] Salave’a, Josh Gattis, Kevin Smith, [Frank] Ponce,. It goes on and on. There’s Jason Taylor.
“There’s a couple of gold jackets walking around [NFL Hall of Famers Taylor and Ed Reed]. A couple of NFL players, high-level players walking around, some high-level coaches. That combination, along with the people, the networking system, the alumni here, the private school education, living in Coral Gables….
“Being able to go to school here and being part of a community like this, it’s unmatched. Instead of bragging about, you show facts so people understand we’re working really hard to show what we have and we focus on selling us and stay away from negative recruiting.”
Former Georgia offensive lineman Amarius Mims, one of the top players in the transfer portal, visited FSU this week and planned to visit UM this weekend, per 247 Sports. He’s reportedly considering NIL opportunities at both schools.
Alabama coach Nick Saban recently told the Associated Press that he’s concerned about the NIL landscape.
“I don’t think what we’re doing right now [with NIL] is a sustainable model,” Saban said. “The concept of name, image and likeness was for players to be able to use their name, image and likeness to create opportunities for themselves. That’s what it was.
“But that creates a situation where you can basically buy players. You can do it in recruiting. I mean, if that’s what we want college football to be, I don’t know. And you can also get players to get in the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can get at your place.”
▪ Freshman tight end Jaleel Skinner on Thursday offered insight on his decision to flip from Alabama to Miami, which might represent the biggest victory of this past UM recruiting cycle.
“Early last year I committed to Alabama, [UM tight ends coach Stephen] Field was the first person that called me after I committed, was the first person to call — nobody from the Bama staff called, he was the first,” Skinner said.
He also mentioned Cristobal as a factor in his decision to enroll at UM.
Skinner has impressed all spring; he’s going to be an immediate factor in the passing game.
“I am just going in there with the mind-set of destroying somebody,” he said. “That’s my biggest thing I’ve gotten better at this spring. I’m happy with myself, the coaches, the way they push me. They want me to be a performer in the fall.”
▪ Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis raved about offensive tackle DJ Scaife in an interview with WQAM last week.
So who else on offense has impressed him this spring?
Gattis said Thursday that Van Dyke “has done an exceptional job” and running back Henry Parrish — the Mississippi transfer - has “done a phenomenal job.” He raved about the recent growth displayed by freshman quarterback Jacurri Brown, who said Canes legend Bernie Kosar has told him to be patient and wait for his chance.
Gatti also mentioned center Jakai Clark and four receivers: Xavier Restrpo, Jacolby George, Key’Shawn Smith and Frank Ladson.
“We’ve got to build more depth,” Gattis said.
UM continues to aggressively pursue help in the transfer portal.
▪ Freshman UM defensive end Cyrus Moss — who, according to Cristobal, “has done exceptionally well” this spring — said UM analyst and former Dolphins great Taylor has taught him “to be a pro and how to be a Hall of Famer and what it takes to be a Hall of Famer one day. He’s a great mentor.”
▪ Receiver Frank Ladson, the Clemson transfer who spent three years with the Tigers, said it’s “good to be back home” to play football for the first time since he graduated from Homestead South Dade High.
He said Gattis — who is the offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach — “has been hard on us.”
Ladson — who caught 31 passes for 428 yards and six TDs in his Clemson career - said “my strength is my size, speed. I can take the top off [a defense]. I need to focus on the short area.”
▪ Logan Sagapolu — the Oregon transfer who redshirted as a freshman and missed last season with an injury - can play center but has played right guard entirely this spring. He has received a lot of work with the first team recently.
He transferred to UM this spring largely because of Cristobal and offensive line coach Alex Mirabal.
He said UM players asked him what to expect from Mirabal and if he’s “there to get money” — as in a salary — or if he genuinely cares about his players.
Sagapolu made this clear to teammates and to reporters: “He’s a really caring coach. He’s a player’s coach. He treats us like he’s our sons.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 2:02 PM.
