Miami coach Mario Cristobal sees player-led team coming to fruition: “You can only go so far with a coach-driven team”

If you expected Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal to take his foot off the gas while the team was on a bye week … well, then you don’t know Cristobal very well. Cristobal said on his weekly Mario Cristobal Show that the extra time off was spent “assessing everything from A to Z.”

Cristobal says a key is for the team to not have “tells,” as in when the team lines up with a certain look that it’s not predictable.

“We want to make sure we’re hard to figure out,” Cristobal said. “We can do a lot of different things from the same looks. You want to be very diverse.”

Cristobal also said what stands out most with his Miami team is the “appetite of our guys to go get better.”

“The bye week was productive, we did catch up on some rest, we got a lot of work done,” he said. “We assessed our system, did a lot of self-scouting and then got a lot of guys on the field. Tweaked some things, made some additions schematically we think can help us with the start of conference play. … We are getting more guys, fast guys, explosive guys on the field to help us play at a higher level.”

The level has already been pretty high, of course, for 4-0 Miami.

Cristobal says a key in the success has been the leadership and seeing it become a player-driven team.

“You can only go so far with a coach-driven team, at some point in time the players have to take over,” Cristobal said. “Things are starting to happen that lead us to believe that (a player-led team) is going to be a reality.”

The Miami offense has clicked on all cylinders through these first four games, with QB Tyler Van Dyke on pace to set a program record for passing TDs (currently that record is 29 touchdown passes in a season).

Through four games Van Dyke averages 260.5 passing yards per game with 11 TDs and only one interception.

“He’s going to keep getting better, you can tell he has ownership in the system,” Cristobal said. “You’ve seen him pull the ball as well, so now people have to prepare for him taking off with the football, too – actually hit 20.4 miles per hour, which for him is a high. Tyler, when you go through a rough season like last year, you put your foot in the ground and make a decision to come back and make things right and then take ownership of an offense like he does. It doesn’t speak, it screams volumes.

“Extremely accurate, on time and we feel his best football is ahead of him.”

The run game has complemented the passing attack well in Shannon Dawson’s offense. In the most recent win at Temple the Canes amassed 326 rushing yards and 7.7 yards per carry. On the season the leading running back is Henry Parrish with 331 yards and three TDs – he started the first three games – followed by Don Chaney with 183 yards. Chaney started the most recent game.

“It’s who gets hot and who wants it most,” Cristobal said. “They’ve all (Ajay Allen and Mark Fletcher have also gotten reps) had a share toting the rock for us, and we have to keep that competition going.”

And don’t tell Cristobal how well anyone is doing. He just wants to see everyone get better.

Including an OL that has dominated.

“We have to improve massively in several areas, continue to improve our ability to knock people back,” he said of the attack up front.

On defense Miami has thrived on totally shutting down the run, allowing only 48 rush yards per game. The team also is creating disruptive plays – Miami now has 10 sacks and 27 tackles for loss in four games. So the play up front has been solid even with some of the injuries on the DL.

It’s expected that Branson Deen and Nyjalik Kelly could return to the lineup this weekend off their injuries.

Cristobal says despite the success up front that “we have to do a better job holding our gaps and using our hands and shedding blockers on defense, we can clog up those holes a little better.”

He also said of DT Leonard Taylor that “Now it’s all settling down, and when Leonard gets his feet in the ground that’s when he becomes a dangerous player. We’re working our way there. Getting better every week, and we expect some really big-time play from him.”

If there’s an area that has struggled for the Canes, it’s in the secondary where some yards have been given up. Opponents average 225 passing yards per game, which is middle-of-the-pack, but only have three TD passes with four INTs.

Three of those picks have come from Te’Cory Couch.

“TC is an elite human being with an elite skillset,” Cristobal said. “And a guy that works hard, really, really smart. A really bright future in football. And he’s just getting after it. … He’s starting to maximize his potential.”

Now the team is ready coming off the bye ready to get after its first ACC opponent, Georgia Tech. It’s a struggling team that is 2-3 and was upended by Bowling Green over the weekend – after that game the defensive play calling was handed over to Kevin Sherrer.

“People are going to point to their last game, which I know they’re not happy with,” Cristobal said. “I point to reality – two weeks ago they absolutely dominated the game at Wake Forest. Look at the past 10, 12 game sample size – this team beat Duke last year, beat North Carolina last year, same thing with Pitt. We know how good they are, what they are capable of and we are looking forward to playing our best football.”

The Yellow Jackets’ defense is one of the nation’s worst – No. 112 in total defense (427.8 yards allowed per game) and No. 127 in rushing defense (224.2 yards). But the passing offense could pose a challenge behind QB Haynes King, who has thrown for 15 TDs with four INTs and added 176 rush yards and another score.

“Outstanding football player – he does it all,” Cristobal said of King. “Phenomenal arm, accurate, gets the ball out on time, decisive, can take off, can extend plays. Really dangerous. … One of the best offenses in our conference as of right now.”

Georgia Tech is No. 19 in the nation in total offense (467.4 yards) and No. 17 in passing offense (300.0 yards).

“Right now the most important game of the year is this Saturday in Georgia Tech,” Cristobal said. “We think the leadership on the team is growing, the players are doing a better job holding themselves accountable and that they understand how important it is to practice really, really hard throughout the course of the week so that becomes our game reality.”

The bottom line takeaway from Cristobal?

“All in all some progress, but a ways to go to get better,” Cristobal said. “We want to be completely addicted to getting better, and we feel we’re heading that way.”

*In recruiting Cristobal says coaches “take a deep dive” into finding players that are grinding in the weight room or doing work in their free time as opposed to recruits that perhaps simply want down time. Cristobal is looking for workers to help build the future of this program.

“The intangibles are just as important as the tangibles,” he said. “What type of competitor is that young man, is he a high-achievement mentality guy? Because that’s contagious. That’s what we are looking for, relentlessly pursue that.”

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