One thing that Cristobal wishes in retrospect. And more puzzling aspects of UM’s season
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday:
▪ Mario Cristobal relied on the transfer portal to fill a dozen spots on his first UM roster. Knowing what he knows now, he wishes he would have used it to an even greater extent.
“We are not very deep; we knew that,” he told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. this week. “That’s why we tried to go portal-heavy at certain positions. I wish we had done it some more.”
Before the season, Rivals rated UM’s portal additions 12th in the nation, and while the portal has made this roster better, the impact hasn’t been nearly enough to lift a team that has seemingly underachieved.
Five players — Akheem Mesidor, Mitchell Agude, Henry Parrish Jr., Darrell Jackson and Frank Ladson — have made significant contributions. The Canes (4-5) would be even worse without them.
Three others have contributed to a lesser extent: Caleb Johnson (couldn’t overtake Corey Flagg for the starting middle linebacker job, but has had his moments), Colbie Young (didn’t play until midseason, then caught 25 passes for 323 yards and 4 TDs) and cornerback Daryl Porter Jr. (more was expected from the West Virginia transfer at a position of need).
Four others have made modest contributions at best: Jonathan Denis (out for the year), Logan Sagapulo, Jacob Lichtenstein (four tackles) and Antonio Moultrie (10 tackles in limited playing time for UM after finishing with 62 for UAB last season).
The Canes had hoped to land a top-flight receiver in the portal, but Zay Flowers opted to stay at Boston College instead of entering the portal and transferring to UM, which would have coveted him. Flowers has 60 catches for 791 yards and 8 TDs.
▪ Some first-year coaches have immediately turned around their programs, including Lincoln Riley, who has transformed a 4-8 Southern California team into an 8-1 playoff contender in Year 1.
LSU went from 6-7 to a top 10 program in its first year under Brian Kelly. TCU has gone from 5-7 to a top 10 program in its first year under Sonny Dykes.
But without mentioning USC or any school, Cristobal suggested this week that an immediate turnaround wasn’t realistic here.
“I wish it could be done quicker than the way it’s going,” he told Zagacki and Bailey. “But unfortunately you can’t. You have to go through these painful steps… It’s not a turnkey [operation].”
Cristobal reminded listeners that his coaching staff “gave up being at some awesome places to come here and rebuild it.”
But he seemingly wants more from those coaches, including himself.
“We have to improve as coaches and how we coach it,” he said.
Though Cristobal didn’t call out well-regarded secondary coach Jahmile Addae by name, here’s one example:
On the long FSU touchdown pass early in the game, “everyone wants to point at the corner but it’s not exactly the corner’s fault,” Cristobal said. “The safety was confused and didn’t know exactly what to do. You’ve got to coach it better.”
Cristobal said the players also have to be better in that situation.
The players involved, not named by Cristobal for understandable reasons, were cornerback DJ Ivey and safety Al Blades Jr.
So should Blades — who’s in his first year playing safety — have known enough to have not made that mistake? Or was Addae delinquent in not emphasizing the point to him?
Only a few people — including the principals — would know that answer.
But you could ask that question about a million things about this team: Is it the players’ lack of talent and lack of concentration or discipline, or does the fault lie with the coaches for not maximizing their abilities and having them fully prepared?
▪ There have been so many puzzling things about this season, and here’s another:
Why hasn’t safety James Williams been more impactful? He has missed seven tackles, been victimized some in coverage, and has had a hand in only two turnovers (one interception, one forced fumble).
Pro Football Focus said that Williams was UM’s worst defender against FSU among players who logged more than five snaps.
Would Williams be better suited putting on weight and playing an outside linebacker role?
One of the many regrets of this extended era of Canes mediocrity is that none of the five-star recruits have been quite as good as expected: Tracy Howard, Chad Thomas (the best of this group), Mark Pope, Lorenzo Lingard (who transferred), and so far, Williams. But it’s far too soon to make any conclusion on Williams.
▪ In the wake of the 45-3 drubbing by FSU, Cristobal has begun using a line from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra that UM’s way of doing things is “not for everybody.”
He also vowed, on his radio show, that “We’re going to continue to get more and more talent in the program. Nothing is going to stop it.”
He said where UM stands is “nowhere near the standard of what we need to be and what we will be. Bottom line is [the FSU result is] unacceptable. We have to make it that it is unacceptable” to players, too.
▪ Among the many disappointments against FSU: A run defense that was pummeled for 229 yards (4.7 per carry). With pretty good talent at defensive tackle (led by Leonard Taylor, Jackson and Jared Harrison-Hunte) and defensive end (Mesidor, Agude, Chantz Williams), the run defense should be better than that.
But the linebacker play — despite good work from Flagg early in the season — remains a problem. Keontra Smith has 10 missed tackles this season.
“You have to be able to stop the run,” Cristobal bemoaned. “We have to demand more physicality from our team and tackle better. Better tackling has to show up when a team is running the ball that well between the A gap.”
On the positive side, UM is 28th best in the country in yards permitted per carry, at 3.6.
But the Canes yielded 124 rushing yards against Texas A&M, 161 against North Carolina, 200 against Duke and 229 against FSU.
Cristobal made clear that freshmen will continue to play. Jacurri Brown already has played in five games, meaning he cannot redshirt:
“We’ve gotten a lot of guys plenty of action and we’re going to keep doing that. It’s because they’ve earned it. We’re not going to throw them out there just to throw them out there.”
▪ Jimmy Johnson, appearing with WQAM’s Joe Rose, said Thursday: “Everybody wanted success overnight and we were hoping for success overnight. But it doesn’t happen that way. I know Mario is working at it, recruiting extremely well. Things are going to get better.
“Because I’m eternally optimistic about UM, I think it will get better. I believe in Mario. I think he’s going to do a great job. We just have to give him time. He’s had injuries, quarterback gets injured. They don’t have receivers… I [implore] people to be patient with him.”
Johnson was promoting his new book, “Swagger,” co-written with Dave Hyde.
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 3:59 PM.
