Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal and player reaction post Bethune-Cookman

Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal and players weigh in after the Canes’ game.

Tune in for what they are saying:

Opening statement …

“Good evening, everybody again. I always appreciate you hanging around so we could chop it up a little bit, but, you know, pretty solid job by our guys coming out handling business, really efficient by the offense scoring on every drive. Our defense did a really good job, too, although their team was obviously trying to snap the ball with a low count on the shot clock to try and limit the number of possessions that we had and once we played the ones in the second half of the first drive, I thought that was a good time to work on developing the other half of our roster and lots of guys got their first opportunity and the opportunity to get significant playing time and play within our system. So, a lot of positives, a lot of things to fix, a lot of things to get better at.”

On how important it is to get out of this game so clean…

“No doubt, and that was a focus right – focus on us and us getting better, and you know, if you really focus on the routine plays turning into highlight plays. And if you get off of that, and you’re trying to make a play instead of doing your job, that’s when things go sideways. And actually, their big plays were the result of us trying to make a play instead of doing our job, so when we came out clean for the most part, and you still have to play your guys, you know, you got to come to these games full throttle and our guys did a good job while they were in there, and they granted us the opportunity for the other guys to play as well. So, we got the best of both worlds out there.”

On Bryce Fitzgerald’s interception and making an impact so quickly and what stands out about him…

“I mean, just about everything. He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s athletic, he’s ridiculously gifted, and he’s a great human being. He’s all about his teammates, he wants to do well. He’s got a tremendous knack for being around the football. His cover skills are excellent. He’s a great tackler. He’s not a little guy. He’s a big guy. He’s 6’1” plus, and he’s close to 200 pounds, so he’s a guy that he’s learned our systems, picked them up really well, and actually a couple different positions. And so, you’re going to see him in more than one.”

On the importance of being able to spread the ball around…

“I think Coach (Shannon) Dawson does a really good job of just mixing up offensive looks and cycling calls, and not just cycling calls, but getting us in really good calls against what the defense is doing against us, and for me, I just do what the defense tells me. I obviously watched it when I prepared for the week, and I have an idea of what it is going to be like, what is going to be on the field, but you never know until you are actually out there, right? You have to react. You have to make the throw, you have to read the defense. That is the fun of the game. It is reacting to the defense.”

On getting his first touchdown…

“It was a blessing. I couldn’t thank my O-line enough. I couldn’t thank Coach Cristobal enough for letting me get the chance to play tonight. It was a blessing to be able to do that.”

On what he’s learned from his elder teammates…

“I learned a ton. You know, coming from high school, I didn’t know much. It taught me a lot about schemes and how to read the defense before the play. Like it’s just a blessing to have Mark (Fletcher), Marty (Brown), Jordan Lyle, Chris Wheatley-Humphrey, we’re just so close that they feed me knowledge, and I take it.”

On what he saw on plays tonight and what worked out well…

“Thankful for the defensive scheme and all the guys around me. Everybody is doing their part. This defense is very special when everyone is doing their 1 through 11. Everyone is doing their 1 through 11 and it shows on the field.”

 On his role as a playmaker…

“The biggest goal for me is to make plays for the quarterback. Wherever you put me, my job is to hold it in and make his job easier. I just tell Carson (Beck) to put it around me, I’m a playmaker, and I just want to make his job as easy as possible.”

 On what being able to make plays early in his career… 

“It feels great, especially learning from Zachariah (Poyser) and Jakobe (Thomas), of course, learning from them, it teaches me a lot of stuff, details, just reading the keys on the field. So I thank them for doing that.”