Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal runs onto the field for the start of UM’s spring football game at Cobb Stadium on the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables, Florida, on Saturday, April 18, 2026.
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ
adiaz@miamiherald.com
The Miami Hurricanes on Friday night held their first scrimmage of fall camp at Hard Rock Stadium.
The scrimmage was closed to the media, but Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal briefly recapped the session with radio analyst Don Bailey Jr. and called the effort “back and forth” between the offense and defense.
“I thought there were some explosive plays, and then some other plays where the defense just got after their butts, and then I saw it flip around the other way too in certain parts of the field,” Cristobal said. “That’s what we were hoping for. We’re hoping for max effort for physicality and exchanging blows, and we felt like we saw that today. We put a lot of guys in situations — some young guys that hadn’t gone with the ones yet and gave them an opportunity to prove themselves. So we’re going to watch film, see where that’s at. Looks like we came out relatively clean from an injury standpoint. We reminded the players it’s tackle football, right? You have to block and tackle. Certainly we don’t ever want to get anybody hurt, but we have to play, and we have to play hard, and we have to practice physical.”
Cristobal also said they put together “30 some odd plays” worth of special teams prep during the scrimmage.
“Had the kickers kick from all kinds of distances, tougher situations, red zone, two minute,” Cristobal said. “Put a lot of pressure on them to see how they perform. They did a good job.”
The Hurricanes will likely have one or two more scrimmages ahead of their season opener at Stanford on Sept. 4 (9 p.m., ESPN).
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Miami Herald
Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.