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Mario Cristobal details changes in Miami's offensive line

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•10/17/22
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With a pair of 5-star signees coupled with two veteran all-conference performers, Miami’s offensive line will look drastically different on 2023. (Eric Espada / Getty Images)

Miami snapped a three-game losing skid with a 20-14 win against Virginia Tech over the weekend, but the Hurricanes still have some significant issues to address. The play of Miami’s offensive line in the run game is a big one coach Mario Cristobal is focused on.

After averaging 218.0 yards per game on the ground in the first three games of the season, Miami has been limited to just 69.7 yards per game in the last three.

“We ran the ball well early in the season,” Cristobal said. “We’ve been a little bit dinged up, too. Certainly that factors into it, as well as Will Mallory, he’s been healthy, he should be healthy. Elijah Arroyo is a big part of the run game as well. At running back, we just haven’t been in sync in the run game. That comes a little bit with us.”

The Hurricanes showed marginal improvement in the run game against the Hokies, rushing for 107 yards, albeit on 28 carries. Still, that was the first time in nearly a month the team crossed the century mark; the ‘Canes rushed for just 60 yards against MTSU and just 42 yards against North Carolina.

Cristobal, a former offensive tackle at Miami and a long-time offensive line coach, knows that’s not good enough.

“You know how much pride we take in that and doing it the right way, so we have to improve,” the first-year Miami coach said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Can Cristobal coax improvement out of Miami offensive line?

Cristobal’s reference to his two tight ends when asked about the run game woes highlights that the issue isn’t strictly limited to Miami’s offensive line.

Still, that group has to get better. Tailback Henry Parrish was a huge weapon the first three weeks of the season, helping the Hurricanes stay balanced and keeping some of the pressure off starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.

Lately, though, it’s been all Van Dyke. Luckily for Miami he seems to have settled back in the last two games.

“We’ve got to do with the run game what we did with the pass game,” Cristobal said. “We made it much more efficient. We certainly have invested time into it. There’s spurts here and there where it’s starting to look like it did early in the year but not nearly as consistent.”

Miami will get the chance to work on it this weekend in a contest against Duke. The Blue Devils have the nation’s No. 62 run defense, allowing 141.6 yards per game.