Mario Cristobal sets high expectations for Hurricanes football using day one practice
As Mario Cristobal enters his first season and fall camp as the head coach of Miami, his main focus is establishing a high effort culture at practice that will hopefully translate to games for the Hurricanes this upcoming season.
“I’m not so concerned that the plays are perfect, but the way we do things have got to be at a high level. Like running on and off the field have to be full throttle, how you finish a play has to be full throttle, it it’s a walk through there shouldn’t be a ball on the ground, you saw it happen earlier and we had to blow it up and start all over again. So the way we do things, as opposed to the result of that particular period that particular play, is what’s really important,” Cristobal said. “If we’re in our one-on-one drill, our five-on-four pass drill and we’re retracing and chasing the ball, once that whistle is blown or once that ball is gone, that everyone puts a foot in the ground and it’s a full speed sprint to the football, not two yards before it, not a yard from it, but all the way through it so we can get in just really good practice habits, because our practice and preparation will become our game reality.”
Cristobal was also asked about his message to the team going into their first practice of camp, something that for the most part he wanted to keep between himself and the team as they’re locking in for camp and ramping up for the season.
“A lot of it I like to keep private because I think that’s important and I think the best part of camp is that you can have messaging and you can do things that stay in house. A lot of it was similar to what we talked about earlier about it being the way you do things, running off the field means running all the way off the field, finishing a play means truly finishing a play. But really all these weights and all these sprints we did in the summer time, unless you know exactly what you’re doing, how to do it, and why we’re doing it that way, you can’t put that to good use. So this is the time where we’ve cut out the outside world, there are no distractions, we could really dive into every ounce, every bit of the playbook and learn it so well that we could play to the best of our ability,” Cristobal said.
Cristobal also spoke on a message shared to the team by former Tennessee football player and motivational speaker Inky Johnson, and its importance to the team. Hopefully those lessons and Cristobal’s culture continue to cultivate for the Hurricanes, as he tries to get them back to the conference championship game for the first time 2017, something he did in his last three seasons as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks.
“So that’s obviously a huge component and I think that has hit home, I think Inky Johnson talking to the team and his message about losing sensitivity and in no way, shape, or form letting entitlement settle into your room, and when I say the room I’m talking about the locker room and that includes the staff. As long as there’s zero entitlement and guys are willing to work we’re always going to make progress,” Cristobal said.