Canes Set to Close Out Home Slate Against Wake Forest

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Xavier Restrepo’s time at Miami has been a journey.

The South Florida native arrived in Coral Gables during the height of a global pandemic and spent the first season of his college career playing in near-empty stadiums. He went on to endure coaching changes and injuries. He’s watched teammates come and go.

Through it all, though, Restrepo has been a steady, reliable presence for his hometown team and over the course of the last season, the wide receiver has become something else: a record-breaker for the program he’s loved all his life.

On Saturday, Restrepo – along with 26 more of Miami’s seniors – will be recognized before playing their final regular-season home game at Hard Rock Stadium.

And while that’s something to celebrate, Restrepo is quick to point out it’s not necessarily something to dwell on, at least not now, when there’s a game against Wake Forest to play and while Miami’s season goals still within reach.

“It’s meant everything to be able to put that ‘U’ on and represent my hometown. There’s no other feeling like it. I’m honestly speechless because there’s no words that can describe it,” said Restrepo, a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist who has 934 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on the season and who this year became Miami’s all-time leading receiver. “But we need to go 1-0 this week. We need to win, and we need to win in Miami Hurricanes fashion.”

Fellow senior Jalen Rivers, an offensive lineman who, like Restrepo, was part of Miami’s 2020 signing class, echoed that sentiment.

“I love this place and it’s crazy to think that this is going to be my last home game at Hard Rock with the fan base and my family,” said Rivers, who helps anchor a line that is paving the way for the Hurricanes to average a nation-leading 544.8 yards per game. “But walking out, I’m just going to be thinking about winning, because what would be great for our Senior Day is to go 1-0 and come out with a win.”

The Hurricanes (9-1, 5-1 ACC) will take the field Saturday for their conference matchup against Wake Forest looking to get back on track after a tough outing at Georgia Tech two weeks ago.

Miami’s players and coaches know that in that 28-23 loss, they weren’t at their best.

And so, they’ve spent the last two weeks doing their best to study the mistakes they made, correct them and prepare for a Wake Forest team that will come to Miami on Saturday looking to upset the eighth-ranked Hurricanes.

“You’ve got to be able to take coaching, be coachable, be able to take constructive criticism, so that’s really it. The main thing is the main thing,” said quarterback Cam Ward, who has completed 67 percent of his passes and thrown for a nation-leading 3,494 yards and 32 touchdowns. “We’re trying to win football games. We’re trying to control our destiny, and you know, we’ve just got to come out with [and] have high urgency. That’s something we didn’t have two weeks ago. But we got better. We’re better in practice, practicing hard. A lot of stuff from practice translates to the field. So, we’ve just got to keep on doing the little things that we’ve been doing on both sides of the ball and hopefully get a win this week.”

This season, the Hurricanes have shown their ability to handle challenges.

Three times, they’ve rallied from double-digit deficits. They’ve responded in hostile road environments. But Saturday’s game will be their first test after a loss and both Ward and his teammates, say it’s of utmost importance for them to show they can handle that particular test.

To that point, they’ll rely on the mantra they’ve worked to follow all year: go 1-0 on the day.

“I think any day we’re coaching, it’s going to be the same thing. There’s too much going on in the outside world. There’s too much clutter,” said head coach Mario Cristobal. “There’s too much coverage and hype and noise to really do anything else but make sure your guys are focused on the task at hand, and streamlining it even more, the practice at hand, the meeting you’re about to walk into, the walk-thru that you’re taking part in. Without a doubt, it’s been emphasized. We’re going to continue along the lines of that. That’s not going to change.”

While Miami looks to honor its seniors and become a 10-win team for the first time since 2017, Wake Forest (4-6, 2-4) comes to South Florida looking to snap a two-game losing streak and keep its bowl hopes alive.

Quarterback Hank Bachmeier, who has thrown for 2,300 yards and 14 touchdowns, leads the Demon Deacons offense, while running back Demond Claiborne has rushed for 919 yards and 11 touchdowns.

But expect Miami’s defense to try and pressure the Demon Deacons, who have struggled to protect the football in their last two losses, combining for seven turnovers in their games against California and North Carolina.

On both offense and defense, the Hurricanes will look to get back to the things they did well ahead of their loss at Georgia Tech. And they’re confident if they’re able to make that happen, they’ll be able to give their seniors a memorable final home game at Hard Rock Stadium.

“Wake Forest is a great team, and you can’t look away from that. You can’t look at their record,” Rivers said. “I think that’s our biggest thing right now. Going into this game, we’ve got to execute. We’ve got to communicate. We’ve all got to be on the same page, because if we’re not, we’ll be 0-1 again.”