Mario Cristobal addresses how Miami's position battles are shaping up

2022 didn’t meet the standard at Miami. Head coach Mario Cristobal knows that and during Fall Camp he’s looking to address it.

Cristobal explained that the entire team is getting better at every position. He also explained that the team is improving in its leadership, which has helped every individual player to improve at their individual positions.

“You would have to ask me specifically position-by-position because you see the rotations, they’re pretty significant now,” Mario Cristobal said. “I mean, day-to-day things change and that line, those magnetic tags are moving up and down because guys are earning more than guys are tailing off. We don’t see any tail off yet.”

As Cristobal explained, the standards are high at Miami and the team is getting to those standards.

“Sometimes, in Camp guys get discouraged when they don’t get the playing time that they feel they deserve, but right now I think the coaches have done a good job of, with clarity, providing feedback and letting guys have opportunities to earn playing time. But the standards are high and they’re doing a great job, the Leadership Council and the team leaders in general are doing just a much better job making guys uphold the standards, and when a team starts doing that there’s significant progress.”

At this point, Mario Cristobal was asked to specifically address how the cornerback position is shaping up.

“I wouldn’t put anybody in doing the best job category, yet,” Cristobal said. “I don’t think we’re anywhere near where we can say something like that.”

Despite still being coy, Mario Cristobal did open up about several members of the Miami secondary and how they’re progressing.

“I do know this, in terms of veterans, you know at safety we have some veterans there, but you have some veterans outside in the form of TC [Te’Cory Couch], Davonte [Brown], Jaden Davis. You know Jaden Davis for being a sophomore, he has a lot of experience. So, he’s not a rookie but he’s not an old guy either, but he’s had a lot of experience. But, Davonte’s experience and his toughness shows,” Cristobal said.

“Jaden Davis, his versatility, his toughness, his ability to play man-to-man coverage, his ability to understand the game, pick up everything quickly and communicate has been awesome. Really excited about Damari Brown. I mean, he pops now. Big and physical, he can run, he plays with courage and toughness, student of the game, obviously it’s in his bloodline, and he’s out there working to earn everything. Meech, you know, Demetrius Freeney got a little bit banged up. Nothing too significant but enough to hold him out. Then, Robert Stafford is progressing nicely.”

Mario Cristobal on holding open practices

Many college coaches are secretive and try to keep practices behind closed doors. That’s not the case for Mario Cristobal, though, who is willing to have open practices.

“Well, I mean, we wanted to have one last year, but just with all the stuff going on with the stadium and transition, we couldn’t have that. But that’s something that we do all the time. It just couldn’t happen last year,” Cristobal said.

“Where we are, in terms of our install, and what we’re doing on that day, it’s nothing you wouldn’t be able to see on tape. So, we don’t feel like we’re risking anything in terms of our stuff being out there. And I think it’s important for our guys to understand the importance, the value of creating a great home-field advantage by playing at Hard Rock. And making Hard Rock an awesome place to play and making sure we defend home field in a certain way.”