Mario Cristobal discusses his initial evaluation of Miami's current roster

Mario Cristobal left a top-15 team in Oregon to take over as head coach at Miami, his alma mater. That means he’s quite a talent evaluator, and he talked about what he thinks of Miami’s current roster.

The Hurricanes went 7-5 this year and are gearing up for a Sun Bowl matchup with Washington State. Miami has some talent, and Cristobal knows a few of the players.

You never know who you’ll run into on the recruiting trail.

“Well, I know some of the guys just from crossover recruiting,” Cristobal said in his introductory press conference. “I was kidding with them today, ‘I couldn’t get you to go all the way across the country, so I had to come here to coach you.’ So I know a lot of the guys and I know there are some really talented guys on the roster, and like any roster, you have to recruit.

“You always have to elevate the caliber of athlete that you have on the roster, right? In college football, talent acquisition, personnel, is the most critical factor. It is. You have a roster of 85 scholarship players, you have up to 30-35 walk-ons, which [are] a critical part of any program. A lot of guys end up being great players that come in as walk-ons. And not a single one of those pieces can be something that you take for granted. Every single player, every single person in the building … has a role.”

Mario Cristobal: ‘It’s our job to develop’

When it comes to getting the roster where he wants it, Cristobal is focused on development. He knows what he has to do, too, and spoke at length about how he’ll go about building the roster.

“There’s some really talented guys on the roster,” Cristobal said. “It’s our job to develop. … It’s our job to get them there and at the same time, bring in as much … hard-working talent as possible because the best way to get your team better is to introduce competition and you’ve got to introduce it every day in every way, and that cannot be a threatening thing. That has to be welcomed by the players, by the staff, because it’s my job to challenge the staff, as well.

“I’ve got to challenge coaches, I’ve got to challenge graduate assistants, analysts, to be their very best, and the only way to do that is to introduce competition. That’ll be at the core of everything we do in the program as we train in the offseason.”

Before the Cristobal era officially begins, Miami and Washington State will face off Dec. 31 at noon ET. Associate head coach Jess Simpson will be the Hurricanes’ interim head coach.