LB Francisco Mauigoa confident Miami Hurricanes will be able to stop the run vs. Miami (Ohio): “We’ve got a lot of playmakers”

Miami Hurricanes MLB Francisco Mauigoa, a Washington State transfer, is set to start tonight and is excited by what he sees on this Canes defense with Miami (Ohio) the first test.

“Miami of Ohio, they are a good football team,” Mauigoa said. “This is going to be a great opportunity to start the game, start off college game day with them. We are just taking it day by day, are just excited about the opportunity to play at Hard Rock against Miami of Ohio.”

This fall Mauigoa’s remained ahead of returning starter Corey Flagg. A question mark is who starts at WILL, with Louisville transfer KJ Cloyd and Wesley Bissainthe, who started at the end of last year, competing.

Miami has not released a depth chart.

“This linebacker corps is fast,” Mauigoa said. “We’ve got a lot of playmakers. Wesley, KJ, Flagg going in and out and K4 (Keontra Smith), we are just whoever coach puts in we are just going to play. Wesley has grown up a lot, I was surprised to find out he was only a freshman last year. He’s been really good, been showing up. KJ is being aggressive. We’re ready. Both those guys are ready. We are ready.”

A refresher on Mauigoa: Last year at Washington State he had 60 tackles, 5.5 TFL and 3.5 sacks, also forcing three fumbles (tied for the Pac-12 lead) with an interception. That interception was, interestingly enough, against Mario Cristobal’s former team – he took it back 95 yards for a TD against Oregon Sept. 24.

His Pro Football Focus grades? In 457 reps last season he graded out at a solid 75.7 percent (70 is considered good). He had a 74.1 run defense grade, 69.9 tackle grade, 64.6 pass rush grade and 76.3 cover grade. So all around pretty solid. He also was noted by PFF with five QB hurries and nine missed tackles. Mauigoa only played 58 reps in 2021 as a freshman.

Now he’s adapted well to Lance Guidry’s defense, LB coach Derek Nicholson and Miami football.

“Coach DNic is a great coach, very detail-oriented, brings a lot to the table,” Mauigoa said. “He brings the juice every day, gets everybody going. That’s a really good impact on us as linebackers to play aggressive because that’s what we do, we play aggressive and play downhill. Coach DNic brings that to the table.”

A final thought from Mauigoa? That’s on how Miami’s improved on stopping the run, an issue that popped up early in fall camp.

“We’ve made a lot of improvement,” Mauigoa said. “We’ve put a lot of time into game planning, think we’re confident in stopping the run. We’re at the level where we are going to stop the run – it’s been a process, but we’re there now.”

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