Mario Cristobal reveal what areas DJ Ivey has impressed the coaching staff

Miami Hurricanes senior cornerback DJ Ivey has been with the program his entire collegiate career. But it is the first year Mario Cristobal has worked with the fellow Florida native. Cristobal has been monitoring the performance of Ivey over the offseason and at the start of the year. During a recent virtual press conference, the Hurricanes head man revealed what areas Ivey has impressed both he and the Miami coaching staff.

“Well, we’re excited just watching his level of commitment to the program,” said Cristobal. “The way he worked and the way he practiced; practice performance is a real strong indicator of what it’s going to look like on game day. He didn’t disappoint and played big and strong.

“Game one wasn’t his best game, but he did recover nicely. And in game two and game three, there were strong performances. Everything he worked on and improved upon showed up in the next couple of games. Certainly, in this last game, he showed a tremendous ability to not only tackle and create some tremendous opportunities for our defense, but he was excellent in coverage as well. He was excellent mentally. So, excited about him in every aspect. Not only that but also as a team leader. The guy’s a great example for our team.”

Ivey has been a consistent contributor in the Hurricanes’ secondary since arriving on campus back in 2018. Over the years, he is played in 47 games and started in 21. Ivey has recorded 91 total tackles, 65 solo, ten pass deflections, and four career interceptions.

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The Hurricanes will need his leadership in the future as they draw nearer to conference play in their schedule. Following Saturday’s game against Middle Tennessee, Miami will host North Carolina on October 8. A match-up that will put Ivey up against one of the conference’s best wide receivers, Josh Downs.

Cristobal: Miami is still a ‘work in progress’ while working back towards being a national brand

Cristobal recognizes that while Miami is on the right track, there’s still a long way to go until they’re considered a national brand once again.

After suffering his first loss as the leader of the Hurricanes, Cristobal explained that he believes Miami beat themselves against Texas A&M, and that’s not going to happen in the future.

“It’s a national brand, and I think people recognize that we’re making progress,” stated Cristobal. “We said from Day 1, we’re back to work. You know, that’s the most important part. Back to work. We’re working at it and we’re improving, and we feel that — there is no, I would say you know, you don’t take any comfort in playing close games. You never have. I don’t think anybody that’s competitive will ever do that. Is there progress? Yeah. Is there more to be made? Absolutely. So our appetite and our desire to be great has to be going through the roof right now, because in several aspects, we were our worst enemy. In several aspects, Miami beat Miami. We take that personally. Complete ownership. Every coach, every player, every administrator.