Mario Cristobal is fired up about January enrollees Cyrus Moss and Jaleel Skinner

On3 imageby:Nick Schultz02/03/22

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To say Mario Cristobal was excited to talk about Cyrus Moss and Jaleel Skinner would be an understatement. The new Miami coach had nothing but good things to — finally — say about his highly touted early enrollees.

Moss and Skinner both committed to Miami after the Early Signing Period and Cristobal couldn’t talk about them with reporters. Wednesday, he got his chance, and he broke down what each player brings to the roster.

“[Moss] is here now, so he is training with our team,” Cristobal said. “Dynamic EDGE rusher, dynamic athlete at 6-foot-6. You’ll see him pop out of different events playing corner covering receivers. Rushing the passer but also taking on block-setting edges, and we need edge defenders. A big pickup for us there, tremendous human being, awesome family. Absolutely thrilled that he is here with us. Came across the country to be part of this.

“Jaleel is also on campus. These guys, they almost look like twin towers. … He’s been in the program now training for a couple weeks. He did play in the Polynesian Bowl along with Cyrus. Those guys missed the first All-Star Game due to minor health stuff but played up in the Poly Bowl. They’re both here now.

“They’re both eating, going to class, studying, working out, training, getting to know the guys, getting to know the culture. The best tight end in the country, we were able to get him on board after just a very strenuous recruiting process and a late de-commitment by him to get him on board with us, so certainly a guy that we needed.”

Moss and Skinner are the No. 105 and 106 prospects in the nation, respectively, this year. Moss is the No. 3 recruit in the state of Nevada and Skinner is the No. 4 tight end recruit in the country from the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Mario Cristobal addresses not having full staff for recruiting

Miami Hurricanes head football coach Mario Cristobal has yet to complete his coaching staff for the upcoming season. And a lack of coaches could be considered a problem right now, especially when it comes to recruiting. But according to Hurricanes beat writer Adam Lichtenstein, the new Miami headman feels like he and his program are unaffected by the coaching shortage.

“Those things, I get it, they’re part of the process,” Cristobal said. “I think more and more as time goes on, families aren’t going to tie themselves to a position coach. That’s a flimsy foundation.”

The Hurricanes head coach might be on to something with that belief. According to the On3 Consensus Team Rankings, Miami currently has the 11th best class in 2022. Among his signees is top-100 recruit Trevonte’ Citizen, who picked the Hurricanes over his home state powerhouse program LSU.