Xavier Restrepo blog: On the game, accountability, Cristobal message to team and Tyler Van Dyke message to me

Presented by Gonzalez & Cartwright, our personal injury attorneys

Miami Hurricanes WR Xavier Restrepo will have a weekly blog all season at CaneSport.com. In this edition, Restrepo shares his thoughts off an opener in which he had 100 receiving yards and a TD:

THINGS THAT STOOD OUT TO ME FROM SATURDAY’S GAME

Really I was just happy to get on the field. Good games come with great game plan. And coach Gattis had an amazing game plan. We just executed very well. We scored every single drive except that one on the goal line. I’m really proud of our O line. To have 600 yards total, 300 rushing, 300 passing you have to do something right on the offensive line. So big props to those guys, to coach Gattis for a great game plan, big props to us players with almost perfect execution. It’s not so much about my individual stats but the team stats. Seventy points is pretty good.

And from the overall game two things really stuck out to me. The whole team in general played amazing football. Obviously our offensive line, I always knew they were good. And when they executed at a high level I was like `Let’s go.’ I was super-excited to see that. And then our special teams unit. Those guys, we just played incredible. And incredibly disciplined, too. We didn’t have any penalties on special teams and that’s a big thing. Kickoff unit usually when you have big returns like that there’s usually penalties and stuff like that. So  when you see big returns, Key’Shawn had 186 yards on special teams, that doesn’t just come from him. Obviously he has vision and he has burners on him, you know? But when you’re able to run through gaps like he ran through on Saturday on a kick return, that’s just incredible. Give props to our front line guys, linemen for the extra points. Even the D line and our gunners on PAT/Field goal block. We blocked one. We just had an all-around fun game and good execution.

And on special teams coach Maloof and coach Cristobal keep stressing to us `It’s not an off down.’ Special teams wins a lot of games, as you saw in the Florida State game. We just make sure, emphasize heavy on giving full effort out on special teams. We had really good execution on special teams with a great game plan from coach Maloof.

MY BIG RECEPTIONS

My long catch? Whenever the ball comes to me I always think that I’m going to score, you know? That’s always my first thought: Score, score, score. So when I first got the ball I was thinking score for sure. I had an inside stem corner route. Great matchup, great gameplan. Coach Gattis put me in a great opportunity, I just did what I was supposed to do. Caught the ball, turned up the sideline. Had to turn on the burners a little bit, ran away from a guy, tried to cut back and the guy behind me clipped my ankle. That’s what happened.

That play I knew I was going to have a good matchup the way the defense was playing. I knew that I could get inside that nickel, press that safety, one on one with the safety and just give him top route shake and I was going to be in a good place. Tyler threw an absolute dart, just caught it and turned up the sideline. And I know Tyler sees it the same way. Me and him watch a lot of film together. So we kind of have that same mindset. That really helps on the field.

The touchdown catch I had – it was all a part of the game plan. We saw another team, I think it was South Carolina State, did that against them last year and that’s just what the quarterback did. We wanted to emulate that. They missed the throw actually on film, but Tyler doesn’t miss too many of those. We were in almost the exact same play that the other team did against Bethune-Cookman last year, but just coach Gattis’ way. Coach Gattis just has his own touch to things. All his plays are from his brain. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but it obviously works.

People want to say it’s a vanilla offense we ran. Well in college football you run plays for the team you’re playing. There are plays on your play call sheet that you execute at a high level, but we usually put a couple of plays in for the opposing team. That was one of them.

Bethune is not no `walk down and win it.’ You have to treat them with respect. And coach Gattis and coach Cristobal wanted to set an early `Miami’s here.’

THE HALFTIME SCENE

I actually got with the guys at halftime and just said there’s a whole another game to be played so let’s just keep going, carry it over to the second half. Then coach Gattis came down from the press box and talked to us, you know how that goes. We just talked to him and stuff like that. And right before we went out coach Cristobal talked to us and got us mentally prepared for the second half, and we carried over great in the second half.

Coach Cristobal, his message was that the game’s not over and let’s continue to kick butt.

THE EARLY UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT CALL

Coach Cristobal ripped him [Kam Kinchens, who spiked the ball after an interception], and that’s just how he holds the standard to everybody. He’s excited, made a mistake, pretty sure it won’t happen again. He’s a great player.

It’s a player accountability team, player led team. If you’re ever on the sidelines you’ll see all the guys – that’s a great emphasis, just communicating with each other. It’s definitely player-led, too.

We learn, don’t dwell on the past too much. As soon as something happens, it gets addressed right there and it better not happen again.

And on Sunday we cover up what we did on Saturday and move on quick and get ready for the next week, practice and all that.

THE GAMEDAY ROUTINE

Canes Walk was amazing. It felt really good to be back in Hard Rock. Even just walking through Canes Walk those people are so electric and it really gets us going. It makes us excited. We really need that like every week. Just going through Canes walk, we go inside the stadium, get dressed, tape, go out on the field, catch a couple balls, get warmed up, come back in the locker room and stretch. Returners, quarterbacks, people that touch balls go out and get comfortable. Then we flex, warm up and it’s game time.

And on the field it’s pretty much about what we have to do. As coach Feld says, it’s neutral thinking. We like to stay to the facts. We don’t really go too much away from the facts. Yeah, we’re going to have fun on the sidelines. But when we’re in the game we’re locked in, trying to execute at a high level, do whatever our coach asks us to do.

WHERE IT GOES FROM HERE

Yeah, I had a good game. But one thing for me is it’s about the team. And one thing for sure is we didn’t drop any balls on Saturday.  Consistency is the key right there. We can’t lose that, have to carry that over week by week by week. And then again, it’s just focus on Southern Miss and get ready to execute at a high level again. With a great game plan I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to do that.

And after this last game I told Tyler he had a great game, he played awesome. Trying to keep his confidence high going into this next week and I just told him he did a great job. His message to me: Likewise, and just thanks for being open, stuff like that.

As for the receivers, every game somebody different is going to be the receiving leader, the rushing leader. It’s just that’s how that game went, you know?