Mario Cristobal on Miami's work ethic: 'Football's not a fashion show'

The 2022 season wasn’t up to head coach Mario Cristobal or the Miami Hurricanes‘ standards. However, fixing issues that the team had isn’t easy to do and is going to require a lot of hard work. Cristobal even went so far as to point out that football isn’t a fashion show.

As Cristobal explained following a scrimmage in Fall Camp, football is a tough sport and you need to be physical to have success playing it.

“Football’s not a fashion show,” Mario Cristobal said. “We’ve got a lot of big, good-looking body types that are learning to play, and we have got to emphasize that you’re not walking down the runway. You’ve got to put your hand in the ground and you’ve got to get to work. You’ve got to knock each other around. You’ve got to make plays, understand coverage and angles.”

To this point, Miami has done some of those things that Cristobal wants to see from the team. However, the Hurricanes still have room to grow and be more consistent.

“So, with that being said, we saw some of that happen today. Then, we saw some other moments where there were lapses, and this game’s very unforgiving. We have to be more consistent.”

One thing that Mario Cristobal has been clear about is that he doesn’t want to hide Miami’s progress behind closed doors. Instead, he was willing to host an open to the public scrimmage where anyone could see where the team is at.

“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.”

Tyler Van Dyke says the Miami offense is becoming more consistent

Miami needs to be more consistent on offense in 2023. Luckily, for the Hurricanes, quarterback Tyler Van Dyke sees the offense improving.

“Yeah, I’d say we’re more consistent. Doing a great job executing,” said Van Dyke. “O-line looks good, receivers look good. Running backs run the ball really well. So yeah, I mean, we just gotta continue to do it; continue to get better each day (and) attack each day with a positive mindset.”