Mario Cristobal discusses 'progress' Miami, Tyler Van Dyke made in spring game

“Progress” was the key word of Mario Cristobal’s interview following Miami’s Orange and White spring game Friday night. Although the Hurricanes still have some room to grow, he saw his team take some strides — and that was his big takeaway.

Friday was an opportunity to see some of Miami’s young talent in a game-like situation, and Cristobal pointed out a few of them in his postgame interview with ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Among the names he called out was Francis Mauigoa, who On3’s Charles Power listed as a true freshman to watch in the game.

All told, on both sides of the ball, Cristobal saw some good things.

“Progress across the board, really,” Cristobal said of what he saw. “Who flashed? You saw actually Cyrus Moss, Jayden Wayne, Rueben Bain, all those guys. Ahmad Moten has got to be mentioned. A guy who did a really good job, especially seeing how many guys we had out in the interior of our defensive line. Francisco Mauigoa, he’s a special player now. He really is.

“Then, on the offensive side, I think you got a good look at some of those offensive linemen. A couple guys were down, they got nicked up a little bit in pregame and were OK. But the skill guys, they made plays. We made a contested catch over on the left side with [Isaiah] Horton. Jacolby George did what we wanted him to do. We put our defense in tough situations, played a lot of straight man most of the night without bringing a ton of pressure. But across the board, there’s progress and still a ways to go.”

Another intriguing player to watch in the game was quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who threw for 184 yards and a touchdown in the first half, which was when players could tackle anyone except the quarterback. Cristobal acknowledged Miami gave up some sacks, but Van Dyke and the receivers looked good.

“He’s a conceptual learner,” Cristobal said of Van Dyke. “He’s just a really high IQ guy. He understands our offense and he understands how to read defenses really well. We gave up a few sacks tonight, but up front for the most part, we’ve done really well. And our receivers are playing faster. Their minds aren’t cluttered. There’s a lot of clarity right now. Even though we had some mistakes, there’s progress. There’s progress.”

Mario Cristobal says Miami could look ‘significantly’ different after second transfer portal window

Now, all eyes are on the transfer portal. The window opens again Saturday and closes April 30, meaning players have 15 days to decide if they want to move on or not. Cristobal told Thamel big changes are likely to come, and that’s why new faces will all but certainly make their way to Miami by fall camp.

“Significantly,” Cristobal said of how different the Hurricanes could look. “We’ve been very fortunate to have coached and played for some really good coaches. It’s a blueprint that has stood the test of time. We’re sticking to it. To make that blueprint work, we’ve still got to enhance the caliber of the talent on our roster.”