Mario Cristobal says Miami must 'be real' with Jake Garcia during struggles

In his first season at Miami, Mario Cristobal wasn’t expecting to run into too many problems at quarterback. Tyler Van Dyke was widely considered one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC. However, he struggled at times and has been injured, which has forced backup Jake Garcia into action, most recently in a blowout loss to Florida State.

Jake Garcia only played briefly, though, struggling and throwing an interception. It was his fourth interception to only two touchdowns on the season. After that, he was replaced by freshman Jacurri Brown.

Jake Garcia is a player that Mario Cristobal has expressed confidence with in the past. Now, however, he says that Miami needs to be real about the struggles that he’s had this season, for Garcia’s confidence.

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“By being real with him. By being honest,” Mario Cristobal said. “I don’t think you sugarcoat anything. The greatest form of respect for a player, I would always think, is to be honest with them, be direct with, and then provide a path.”

Mario Cristobal explained his approach to coaching a player. Ultimately, it’s about finding a path to get them to play to the best of their ability.

“Provide a path for betterment–a path for improvement. Go set goals for them. And then, coach them. Coach them hard. Coach them fair, and find a way to get them to play to the best of their ability.”

Jake Garcia is a young quarterback, who was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2022. So, he has plenty of time to improve. However, for Miami’s sake, he’ll need to improve sooner than later.

Mario Cristobal on Tyler Van Dyke’s injury

Tyler Van Dyke tried to play injured against Florida State but was unable to do so. That’s when Jake Garcia came into the game and took over. Now, Mario Cristobal had an update on Van Dyke’s injury situation.

“Tyler, we’re going to evaluate Tyler as the week goes on,” Mario Cristobal said. “Probably in the same spot we were a week ago. But I would say he’s better than he was a week ago at this time.”