Canes Camp Report: August 18
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – In two weeks, the Miami Hurricanes will take the field at Hard Rock Stadium for their season opener.
On Friday morning, they were continuing the work of preparing for that opener against Miami of Ohio with a scrimmage on Greentree.
After the scrimmage – the second of training camp – Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal shared his thoughts on the day and how he felt the team looked.
Here’s what he had to say…
On whether the consistency he was hoping to see showed up in the scrimmage:
“At times it did. Defensively, they were very consistent. They got after the offense. They allowed an explosive play, and then they buckled down and made it difficult in every way, shape, and form. First down, bringing pressure, knocking back the run, and they made it very difficult on third down.
“When we had some lightning outside and had to come inside, the script was flipped – the running game started flowing, we started connecting on some of the bigger shots we were taking. We just looked more efficient on offense and made some explosive plays. The goal line scrimmage, the short yards part, we got exactly what we wanted out of that. We wanted physical play – healthy play, of course. But we got better. We got better at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. We got more demanding in terms of effort, with how to finish plays – especially in those situations. There was progress, and then of course, a lot of work to do.”
On competition elevating the level of play in camp:
“That’s what we want, and you see guys getting better just from fighting through this competition. But also, we’re trying to create separation. We’re trying to create roles for everyone. To name a guy a legitimate starter, there has to be some kind of separation. If there isn’t separation, and they’re all playing well, that’s good too. You get to play a lot of guys, with multiple players getting multiple reps. We want to continue to push that and push that hard, because we have several guys that may not have earned a starting spot yet, but they have earned playing time and they have earned the opportunity to compete for a starting spot, and that’s really valuable. We need more of that.”
On what comes next for the Hurricanes, schedule-wise, with the opener two weeks away:
“This was a really important day. This is, I believe, practice number 15 or 16. But this was scrimmage number two. We had 125 or 130 plays and are going to grade it like a game, treat it like a game, assess it, walk through the corrections, and see where we are – what we do well, what we need to get better at, where we can adjust. That being said, this is the time in camp where we give them 48 hours to regenerate, recover…they’re still doing film, still doing some work, but taking the pads off of them for a little bit before we get right back at it on Monday.”
On whether he’s happy with the conditioning and physicality he’s seen from the Hurricanes at this point in camp:
“I’ve been coaching now 27 or 28 years, and I don’t know if the word “happy” is ever in it. That word is so foreign when it comes to it. What I’d legitimately say I’m enthused about it is the progress of the program – the guys in the locker room, the culture, the DNA, the drive behind it daily. It’s what you want to see daily. You want to see guys going in to meet, you want to see guys doing the right things, guys finishing drills the right way, blocking technique and fundamentals. Making corrections the right way. We’ve seen a lot of progress there and we’re going to keep pushing that hard to make more progress.”
