Canes Spring Practice Report: April 8

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Hurricanes were back on the Greentree Practice Fields and the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility on Tuesday to begin their final week of spring drills.

After practice, head coach Mario Cristobal, defensive lineman Armondo Blount, offensive lineman James Brockermeyer, and defensive lineman Justin Scott spoke with reporters and shared their thoughts on the day’s workout, and how spring practice has gone.

Here’s some of what they had to say Tuesday, in their own words…

Head coach Mario Cristobal

On the progress of quarterback Carson Beck:

“It’s right there. We feel great about it. He’s taking part, not only in walkthroughs, but also in team setting drills that allow him to hand the ball off. Goes for every progression, stays up there and relentlessly watches film. Excited, excited about him. Also, you know the value of the reps continues to stand out because you see so many [other] quarterbacks today have the opportunity to get the ball to some younger receivers that haven’t played. You saw CJ Daniels now getting live work as well and he’s certainly going to help us a bunch. I got off track a little bit, but I think you know what I’m saying. We’re getting there. We’re real close [but] he won’t throw in the spring game.”

On how the defense impressed in last Saturday’s scrimmage:

“The intensity. They played with intensity, passion, physicality. They forced turnovers. They created negative plays. They disrupted the passer. They forced balls to bounce and roll off the edge. And there was always an answer there. The support player was in place. I thought we tackled well. I thought we were very aware of where our help was. Felt like we played like a unit. Communication was, I wouldn’t say completely spot on, but much improved. Guys ran to the football, which probably stands out as the number one thing we’re doing better in the spring. We’re running to the football and we’re getting there with intentions of making something happen. That’s what I would say. I think today the offense responded and got one back up on them in the form of some big plays, defense still made a lot of good plays.”

On the offense’s potential to be explosive:

“There’s no intention of going backwards on offense. The offense set such a high standard last year with points and yards. There’s a lot of ways to get points and yards and I feel like we have the capabilities of doing it both ways. Our running game is strong. Our offensive line is strong. Our quarterback room is excellent. It’s strong. Our receivers, some of them are young, but we’ve played with young receivers at Miami before for a long time and won a lot of games with that. And then some of the older guys have done a really good job as well, maturing and developing. The tight end room is something that you saw towards the end of the year was being used more and more. We’ve got to keep doing that. So, I do feel really good about our explosiveness capabilities and the ability of our coaches to put the ball in the hands of the guys that can make plays.”

Defensive lineman Armondo Blount

On how much he’s grown and adjusted to the college game since his freshman season last year:

“When I first came in, it was mainly about learning more about football, getting adjusted to the college experience. Now, this spring, I’ve just been having my head down, working, and putting my faith into God and just working and seeing what plays out for me. That’s been my main thing this spring, just giving it my all and just keep working.”

On what he felt he had to learn about football and the college game:

“My knowledge for the game and just technique because, you know, college is more than just playing football. It comes with technique and knowing what you’re doing and what the guys behind you are doing.”

On when it felt like he transitioned from high school to college football:

“The first day, when I came in. College is college. Things move faster. You’ve just got to get used to it, like acclimated. It’s just like high school all over again. You start at the bottom and you’ve [got to] work up.”

Offensive lineman James Brockermeyer

On offensive line coach Alex Mirabal:

“He just has an unexplainable juice, I guess you could say. He loves what he does, and I’ve said it before: I don’t think there’s a day he wakes up and he’s not excited to come into work. And along with the juice he’s got, he’s super knowledgeable about the game and he is very creative with the ways he coaches. It’s a bunch of stuff I’ve never seen before, and I think it’s a great thing that I’ll be able to implement to my game. …

“We’ll wake up every morning and we’ll have a text from him at like 4:30 in the morning with some motivational quote or something and you know, we see that he’s ready to go so we’ve got not choice but to get ready to roll, too.”

On freshman quarterback Luke Nickel:

“Yeah, we huddle a lot and he’s done a great job of taking command, especially as a freshman. I know it wasn’t easy when I was a freshman coming into a good program and I’ve been really impressed by the way he’s been able to handle it and take command of the offense when he’s gotten his shot.”

On the depth of the offensive line:

“I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can roll if we need them to. And everyone does a great job of taking a lot of pride in their role on the team. It’s been really, really great to watch and see it unfold.”

On defensive lineman Justin Scott:

“He’s really powerful and he plays with good leverage, so it’s a good challenge for us to you know, try and dig him out of the A-gaps and stuff. But he does a good job, and he makes us better, for sure.”

Defensive lineman Justin Scott

On last Saturday’s scrimmage:

“Oh, it was a lot of fun, kind of like a first real feel of just the defense and all the guys playing together. I feel like we were flying around, had tons of energy and we were just out there making plays on Saturday.”

On what kind of progress he thinks he has made this spring:

“Probably just getting stronger, and also just technique, getting my footwork down tighter and just getting my hand placement a little better.”

On what he’s looking forward to about Saturday’s spring game:

“Definitely super excited. Spring ball makes me want to miss the season and makes you want to go play a game. Having a spring game that’s kind of simulating a game day is going to be real fun.”

On his transition to college football:

“Kind of just when I first game in, it’s kind of just staying humble. Also, high school and college are so different. Just forget everything from high school, kind of just put it in your mind that you’ve got a fresh start. You’ve got to reprove yourself. You’ve got to relearn, because you learn different things in college than you learned from high school, so kind of relearn, regain that respect. It’s kind of like you’re starting over. You’ve got to put in your mindset that you’re starting over.”