ESPN analyst believes Miami will take ‘huge step’ under Mario Cristobal

Coming into 2022, there was tons of excitement around Miami for Mario Cristobal’s first season there. It didn’t work out the way people expected, though, with Miami going just 5-7 and missing bowl season.

Despite that, there are still going to be people excited about Miami because of the team’s talented roster and Cristobal’s track record. One of those people is ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, who said that he expects the Hurricanes to take a huge step forward.

“Year one coaches in the ACC last season a big topic of discussion,” Greg McElroy said. “Coming into the season, everyone’s saying, hey, Mario Cristobal at Miami. Don’t look now, Mario’s gonna get them going. Well, obviously, they fell flat.”

After starting the season 2-0, Miami lost three games in a row, including against Middle Tennessee State, and never recovered. Other than a couple of wins against some of the ACC’s rebuilding programs, it was a lost year.

Despite all that, Greg McElroy thinks Miami is ready to improve rapidly going forward.

“It was a really disappointing first season, but if you look at where Miami is at and how they have kind of stockpiled, they might be in a position to be successful. Maybe not as soon as ’23, but I’d be shocked if they didn’t take a significant step here at some point in the near future,” McElroy said.

“It feels like the commitment is there, it feels like the resources are there. It just feels like Miami is kind of coiling up ready to spring forward, and I get the sense that I trust Mario Cristobal. I think that he’s going to figure it out and I think that that program, in general, will be back to becoming front page news at some point very soon.”

Mario Cristobal sees the transfer portal as an opportunity

The transfer portal is a great way for schools to flip a roster quickly. At the same time, it means a school can lose tons of players in an offseason. So, there is good and bad that comes out of it for coaches. However, Mario Cristobal sees this as an opportunity.

“Well, the first thing is the most important thing, the game. I think that sometimes you always try to get ahead of ourselves as a society. What we’re doing, we’re making sure that every ounce of focus is on this game. The challenge of a transfer portal I think it’s the opposite. I think it’s more of the opportunity of a transfer portal. Every single coach in America has an obligation to load up their roster,” Cristobal said.

“I know we have the responsibility to make sure our roster is filled with hardworking, tough-minded, resilient, do the right things on and off the field, high-caliber, athletic, and high-character individuals that want to be elite. That want to make the commitment and sacrifice to do that. So, when that time comes, obviously, there is a plan in place and one that’s executed full-throttle. As well as our high school recruiting plan and our junior college recruiting plan: nowadays you find players overseas. There’s different ways to fill your roster now.”