Mario Cristobal raves about the mark Xavier Restrepo has left at Miami

The Miami Hurricanes are preparing for their final home game of the season against Wake Forest. It’s a game that head coach Mario Cristobal knows will be emotional for his seniors, particularly wide receiver Xavier Restrepo.

Ahead of that game, Cristobal raved about what fifth-year senior Restrepo has meant for the program and the legacy he’s leaving at Miami.

“I think it’s mutual,” Mario Cristobal said. “He means the world to the program and the program means the world to him. He is the epitome of hard work. I think he’s grown up a ton. That’s the biggest thing, the maturity levels of X, over the past eight, nine, ten months, being all about team and making sure that he does everything possible to affect teammates has really been just incredibly, just awesome to watch.”

Xavier Restrepo came to Miami as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2020, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, out of Deerfield Beach. He was the 645th-ranked recruit overall and the 111th-ranked wide receiver recruit in that cycle.

“And you know, obviously he’s going to play a long time. He’s a really good football player, but he and these other guys, they’ve everything that we are looking at and focus on is Wake Forest,” Cristobal said. “All the personal accolades, goals, and everything else, I think for him, for the rest of the guys, they all take a back seat, and it’ll be the theme of the press conference and everything else we do, man. We’re focused on one thing and one thing only, and that’s the way it should be.”

In his five years with Miami, Restrepo has played in 49 games. During that time, he has made 186 receptions for 2,651 yards and 20 touchdowns. That mark of 2,651 yards receiving is a Miami record, which he set in the Hurricanes’ win over Duke. To do so, he passed Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne. He previously passed Michael Irvin.

Xavier Restrepo shared his thoughts on breaking that record during an appearance on The Lamar Thomas Show.

“I was super excited. To be able to play for the University of Miami was a lifelong dream. That was the last game of the season, and just to be able to work and get into the rotation after a year where I had so much contact tracing for COVID, I had to sit out a couple of games,” Restrepo said.

“And all the people telling me I can’t do this and can’t do that then finally getting into the final game of the season and being able to catch the same route that I broke the record on is insane. Versus the same team, which is also insane. To be able to bring that in from one of the best quarterbacks I’ve played with, D’Eriq King, was just an honor, and super proud. I knew that the work had to get started.” 

Now, Xavier Restrepo has another two regular season games, at least, to continue to add to his record while cementing his legacy in Miami history. Regardless, Saturday’s game will be his final home game, unless the Hurricanes were to host a first round College Football Playoff game.