It was the biggest day of the year for the Miami Hurricanes. Recruiting has always been the most important thing for Mario Crisotbal, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is still focused on winning at the highest level.
It starts with recruiting, and another season goes by with the Canes having a top-10 class and the top ACC class for the fourth straight year.
Cristobal feels that this class can be his best yet, as he signed everyone that he wanted and those who stayed with the Hurricanes.
OPENING STATEMENT
“It was an awesome day and always a fun day for us as it relates to the future and it is the beginning of the journey for a lot of future Hurricane greats. To make that happen a lot of people have to be brought to the forefront in terms of thanking. We start with the chair of our board, Manny Kadre and our administration and president and athletic director. Also the people behind the scenes withe our recruiting team and Dennis Smith who serves so many roles for us and is also the general manager. Our assistant coaches and our players who pour a lot of time into recruiting the future and that is always a great sign. There are people in development, strength and conditioning, sports science, nutrition, everybody on campus and the custodian staff who is always staying on campus to keep this place looking like a five-star hotel to make sure people feel like they are in a first class place. There is compliance and creative and the list goes on and on.”
“We have a really, really good football team and we felt like today we added our deepest and most talented group to date. By that I mean a class that is full of size, speed, length, power, explosiveness and guys that have an extremely high work ethic and show toughness, resilience, and high character guys that want to be Miami Hurricanes. There are 30 total commitments with 14 total on offense and 16 on defense. It is very well balanced. Some of the best players from the state of Florida with 14 players from the state of Florida. There are 16 players from out of state. We have players sign from Missouri, Ohio, California, Illinois, including the number one player in Missouri and Illinois. There is North Carolina, Kansas, Alabama, Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, and Kentucky. We have a running back, quarterback, six offensive linemen, two tight ends, four wide receivers, seven defensive linemen, three linebackers, and six defensive backs. Recruiting never, ever ends. It will continue. It always does especially with the roster at a 105 limit now.”
ON KARSTEN BUSCH JOINING THE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY…
“He was one of our priority linebacker targets and he is now a Miami Hurricane. He is 6-feet-3 and just under 230 pounds. He is a state qualifier in the triple jump and long jump. He had 110 tackles and he is a legitimate ballhawk. He is a between the tackle guy that you want playing right between those big tackles we have.”
ON JACKSON CANTWELL…
“He is 6-feet-7 and 328 pounds. He has the record for the shootout at 76 feet. He shattered his dad’s record and both his parents are Olympians. I think he had 400 pancakes in his high school career and they are not gentle pancakes. They get put through the ground and beyond. He is beyond his years in football IQ and regular IQ. He is an exceptional student and relentless competitor. His work ethic is through the roof. When you look at big guys, you look for balance and body control. He has that and then some. His wingspan is in the neighborhood of 84 inches, which is elite. His numbers are that of an NFL combine offensive lineman. His best football is ahead of him and he is very eager to get right to it. He is the Gatorade player of the year and the Gatorade track athlete of the year. He is just getting started.”
ON JACKSON CANTWELL HAVING THE POTENTIAL TO CONTRIBUTE AS A FRESHMAN…
“We have been lucky. We have been fortunate enough to work with the best of the best. I should mention congratulations to Francis, who is the winner of the Jacobs trophy which is for the best blocker in the ACC. Malachi won the rookie of the year and offensive rookie of the year. It starts up front. If you are solidified in the trenches, you will have a chance to play high level football. It is not just Jackson, it is the entire offensive line class. This is as excited as I have been about a group of offensive linemen as I have ever been. They are all the same type of DNA. They are made of the right stuff. They are all legitimate workers and grinders. They are tough guys and understand ball. They understand the intangibles that come with being a great football player, a great teammate, and a champion. A lot of them are playing or have played for titles before. Coming in, they are as talented or more talented as any class that we have had.”
ON SIGNING A BIG LINE OF SCRIMMAGE CLASS…
“It is really, really important. It is not like back when we played. Back in the day, you used to work all summer, then come in August and then take off your construction tool belt from working all summer and then you went to the track and ran your conditioning tests and then went to practice. These guys now are training year-round. They have position specific trainers and they get to come to you in January and they get the entire winter strength program and the fourth quarter program and spring practice. They get to log 15 credits in school in the spring. They get such a head start. The goal for us now is that we still feel like the value of high school recruiting is at the forefront. If I stand corrected, we started seven or eight players on each side of the ball that are home grown players. We believe in getting as many of those players on the field and as early as possible. The developmental cycle has to be accelerated due to the nature of how transient this sport has become. We have some high level talent guys here now and these are guys we feel from a mentality and work ethic and toughness standpoint can come and help us right away.”
ON JORDAN CAMPBELL MAKING AN EARLY COMMITMENT AND STICKING WITH IT…
“Those guys get a first hand look at what we do on a daily basis. They are here a bunch, which I think is the best part of it. About 85 to 90 percent of the guys we signed had a chance to watch us practice, lift, sit in meetings, and they know the level of intensity and detail that goes into the way we coach players and prepare guys to have success at the highest level.”
“We also dive into senior year development. So many times you fall in love with a guy because of what you see from him as a sophomore, but what does he develop into? Football is a developmental sport. The more that you dive into guys and their senior year and they have their summer of lifting and running and practicing and we see those guys performances sky rocket. It also shows a decent indication for their love of the game and how much time they are putting into it. So many of the guys that we have and we have signed are guys that we have taken off of senior year tape. I want to emphasize that because that has become a big part of our program.”
“All of our three full classes have produced a freshman All-American which goes into identifying them, coaching them, and developing them the right way.”
ON THE WIDE RECEIVER SIGNEES…
“They can go. Somourian Wingo is one of the biggest risers in the entire country. He ended up working himself into a Top 25 player. We started recruiting him when he wasn’t even a four-star guy yet. He came to a camp and it was easy to see he had all the tools and intangibles and you could tell he wanted to be a Miami Hurricane. He took it to another level as a senior. He is just getting started. His best football is ahead of him.”
“Milan Parris is from Ohio and a player we saw early and we were able to get our eyes on more throughout the course of the year. He is exactly what you want as an outside receiver. He is fast, explosive, and makes the contested catch. He is so athletic that they put him on kick return as well and he housed one 95 yards. He is a two-sport athlete that averaged 15 points per game in basketball.”
“Vance Spafford is out of Mission Viejo, California and we have known him forever. He was committed to Georgia and he had a minor injury that he is healthy from now and he is one of the fastest receivers in the entire country. He is a 10.6 guy in the 100 meters. He came to Miami and fell in love with it.”
“Tyran Evans is from North Carolina and we were out there recruiting Camdin Portis and we go right down the street and he is committed to Tennessee and he said Miami isn’t recruiting me and it was like well we are now. We watched him practice and play and he is a big, strong, physical athlete.
“As you look at our roster, that is the biggest change you can see over the last four years. Size, length, speed, and bodies that are more mature and more developed. It gives you a chance to be a more physical team. This game is a game of resilience and as you go deeper into the season, you want to get tougher and stronger than your opponent. Guys like this, even though they are receivers, their physical and mental makeup allows us to build ourselves on the perimeter in as tough as a manner as we do in the trenches.”
ON THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF…
“We are very realistic and let’s call it what it is: in the history of the CFP, there has never been a situation where two Power Four teams with the same record and a head-to-head, never has the loser advanced and the winner been kept behind. When you look at the most important factor and the reality of all competitive sports is that head-to-head that determines a winner and a loser. Miami did a great job of handling the game control and settling it on the field in a fashion where I could rattle off so many statistics. When you look at what we did that game like holding a Heisman candidate to 30 yards and having a dominant performance up front that relegated a powerful and talented offensive line to their worst grades that they have ever had. You look at common opponents on top of the head-to-head and we were more convincing in three of the four common opponents that we had. Not many people talk about our out-of-conference schedule. Who in the country wanted to play our out of conference schedule when it came out? Notre Dame, Florida, and USF. They were all ranked at some point. We went undefeated through that schedule. We are playing our best football for the past month. Margin of victory is 28 points. Every metric is top ten. The word totality keeps coming up. I think of what goes into a resume. We have won ten games. We are being compared to Notre Dame in many different forms and fashions, but the totality of our resume is as strong as anybody else. After their first two losses, their resume got stronger, but when you break it down in those ten games, two of them were against Group of Five opponents and six of the other games were against defenses that were ranked 105 and below. I think when you start looking at the true facts surrounding a resume and how it is built, I think it will all be taken into account. What is fair and what is the reality is that we are the best and most deserving team.”
ON SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO SUPPORTING MIAMI…
“Well you know that there is a lot of reality behind it when a Florida Gator speaks up for a Miami Hurricane. Let’s start there. I think we all know that people of that magnitude that carry such weight because of all the stuff they are doing in their career, you don’t bring that to the table unless it is backed up by facts and reality. It is something that continues to have a honest and transparent light shined on it. We are honored and flattered by it. It adds to our confidence that what is right is right.”
ON MALACHI TONEY BEING THE ACC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR…
“Credit to Rueben Bain, who was just named defensive player of the year. Malachi is decent. He is an ok player. What makes Malachi what he is is because of his approach to the game and his approach to life. His attitude and complete team first mentality. Working at 5:30 in the morning is unnatural for somebody at that age, but he is here all the time catching some extra work on the JUGGS machine. I think one of the most hilarious things is Malachi will go spend time in meetings with the offensive line coach. When is the last time you see a receiver take time and go talk out protections in the run game. I guess he found his way because he got some Wildcat reps. He is a guy that epitomizes what being a Miami Hurricane is all about.”
ON QB DEREON COLEMAN…
“He has thrown one interception. He threw one the other day and he was so upset. We had him in camp and the 7-on-7s here and he reminded us of Cam [Ward] quite a bit because he could get the ball out at different arm angles. He has an exceptional football IQ. He is a great human being an a competitor. He just always wins. You never find him getting trapped or sacked. If he isn’t extending a play, it is because he is on script. He can improvise and he has all the intangibles of what you want for a quarterback. He was fantastic in the Elite 11 and he plays in the state semifinals this coming weekend.”
ON RB JAVIAN MALLORY…
“Speed and power. My nephew coaches at one of the local high schools and I had a chance to go watch it live and another one as well and he is special. He is smart, big, tough, and strong. A lot like some of the backs we have now. He has that extra gear and he can catch passes in the screen game. He is advanced in his protection detail as well. He is a guy we expect to playing time right away.”
ON HIS MESSAGE TO HIGH SCHOOL QUARTERBACK SIGNEES AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY AT MIAMI…
“I think the last couple years have been unique. We did bring one in and he ended up being the top pick in the draft and this other one has done really, really well. If not for one game, he would probably be in the conversation of being a Heisman finalist. We don’t ever shy away from the truth and the reality. Here you end up on the field in so many ways. Walk-ons earn playing time. Guys that just come in and take the position of a junior or senior. Guys that have been hurt and rehabilitated and now they are getting significant reps. We don’t discriminate. If you can play and you are doing the right things, we are going to find a spot for you. We want to play as many guys as we can. We play guys. We don’t just hand out playing time either. We really push and grind on development. When guys earn it, we find a way to get them on the field. That bodes well for us. Down the stretch, there was a point where Carson was under center and it was freshman receiver, freshman receiver, sophomore tight end, freshman receiver, and freshman running back. He is a sixth-year quarterback. All of that stuff is a testament to the players and how they buy into a blueprint that gets guys onto the field as soon as possible.”
ON THE DEFENSIVE BACK GROUP OF SIGNEES…
“We expect all these guys to come in and compete.”
“We will start at safety and Cortez Redding from Jonesboro in Atlanta. He is a two-sport player in basketball and in fact I’m sure his basketball coach would love for him to play, but we need him down here. He is an all-region player and a defensive player of the year. He is smart, tough, physical, and a ball-hawk.”
“JJ Dunnigan was one we were hoping to get in and and it just worked out where the timing worked out. He is 6-feet-3 and 195 pounds and he is fast, explosive, and rangy. He can play man-to-man and plays on the offensive side of the ball as well. He was selected to the Under Armour All-American game. He won the first state title in his school’s history. He is a two-sport athlete. Most of our guys are two and three sport athletes and team captains.”
“Camdin Portis, we don’t take it for advantage that he is a legacy. We recruit guys independently of whatever their legacy may or may not be. He had one of the best seasons we saw of anybody on senior tape. He can play nickel, corner, or jump back there at safety. His body continues to grow and develop. He is a fast riser in this class.”
“Jaelan Waters is one of the best in the entire country. He had an injury late, but he is recovering well and he is a two-sport athlete also and a track and field guy. He is one of the best players in the country.”
“Jontavius Wyman was committed to Georgia and ended up flipping to Miami and he is another Georgia region player of the year and a track and field guy also. He is explosive and fast with ball skills. Great man to man coverage.”
“Brody Jennings was named to the Super 11 by the Florida Times Union. He is a four-star cornerback. He is an unbelievable human being and an unbelievable player and a guy we expect to come in and make an impact right away.”
ON SIGNING THE TOP CLASS IN THE ACC FOR THE FOURTH STRAIGHT CYCLE…
“It means we are getting Miami to where it needs to be. You always want to land somewhere in the top ten. For us, if you go by the ratings by player, it is a top six class. On our board, you want to land within a range that can help you win a conference championship and a national championship. Everybody we signed was above that line. We aren’t signing guys to just provide depth. There is no value in that. The day and age of the transfer portal and sitting behind somebody and not contributing with the way NIL works is all you are doing is burning cash. We want to bring in guys that understand you have to work and earn a position, but also have the mentality to get on the field.”
ON SIGNING THE TOP CLASS IN THE ACC FOR THE FOURTH STRAIGHT CYCLE…
“It means we are getting Miami to where it needs to be. You always want to land somewhere in the top ten. For us, if you go by the ratings by player, it is a top six class. On our board, you want to land within a range that can help you win a conference championship and a national championship. Everybody we signed was above that line. We aren’t signing guys to just provide depth. There is no value in that. The day and age of the transfer portal and sitting behind somebody and not contributing with the way NIL works is all you are doing is burning cash. We want to bring in guys that understand you have to work and earn a position, but also have the mentality to get on the field.”
ON IF THE PROGRAM IS SHIFTING AWAY FROM THE PORTAL…
“I don’t think you shift away from anything that will make your program better. Some times it comes in the form of high school and some times in the form of the portal. That is hard to say until the dust is settled and you have a clear view of what your roster looks like. We have invested a lot on the high school cycle because the more homegrown the better, but you can’t deny the fact that we have taken some unbelievable players and people from the portal. If somebody can make your roster better, you never deny your program the opportunity to get better by bringing in the right people. That is at every level. We don’t shy away from anything that helps us get better.”
ON THE TIGHT END SIGNEES…
“These guys are special. They can stretch the field and knock you back in the run game. They are athletic enough to play outside at receiver and big and tough and strong enough to play and close out that C-gap and get involved in the run game. They can play as a fullback as well. They both played every position imaginable. They touched the ball as quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. They are really, really explosive and they are big bodies. They are 6-feet-5 guys that can go and they love physicality and contact. They are fearless and high level tight ends. I couldn’t be more excited about the tight end group.”
ON THE LINEBACKER SIGNEES…
“Jordan Campbell has multi positional value because not only is he a great linebacker, he is also super explosive. When he hits something, it goes the other way fast. He will play in the Under Armour All-American game. Watch him at the line of scrimmage as an edge rusher and he does a phenomenal job and he is a two-sport athlete.”
“JJ Edwards was a guy that caught our eye in the spring. He has all the tangibles and intangibles that fit exactly what we want. Coach Hetherman in his system wants the body types and skill set of the guys to fit his defense. We feel like we have enhanced that. He led his team to the state semifinals. He is explosive and a great tackler. A great space player. He does well in the passing game as well.”
“Karsten was a state qualifier in the triple and long jump. A two-way player and I love that because when you see guys play the other way and you can see them play football naturally, you get to really assess their athletic ability. You are looking at big speed guys. They can run and strike and close on ball carriers and close on the passer.”
ON DEFENSIVE LINE SIGNEES…
“This is a group where the best way to explain it is from a recruiting and roster standpoint, we knew we needed to sign a significant amount of guys and guys that we felt had twitch, explosiveness to get on the field earlier than later.
“DeAnthony Lafayette is one of our two edge players. He was a two-sport athlete and he was Orlando player of the year. He had 17.5 sacks. A natural pass rusher. He really impressed Jason Taylor. He had a lift session at 5 a.m. and then a track practice at 3 p.m. and he got there really early knowing that Jason was going to show up. He is explosive and slippery. He was committed to LSU and we loved him and never stopped recruiting him. He came to his senses and chose the right place.”
“Asharri Charles is 6-3 and 240 pounds. He is a guy that can jump out of the pool and land on the edge. He can power clean 320 plus pounds. He is a first team all-state player and he is an explosive track and field guy.”
“Inside we took Tyson Bacon, Frederic Sainteus, Keshawn Stancil, Big Chuk, and Logan Nagle.”
“Tyson had an injury this year, but he is from Birmingham, Alabama over at Hoover. He is 6-feet-4 and 270 pounds and he caught our eye right away. We offered him the moment we saw his film. Had a great senior year until he got hurt. He is violent and explosive and he can play there three technique or the five. A lot of versatility. Big Fred is 6-feet-4 and 290 pounds. He is a wrestling, track and field, and football athlete. His coach was a NFL player. He moved from Haiti three years ago and he speaks four languages. I can finally have some Spanish conversations. He can flat out go. Keshawn Stancil is one of the best defensive tackles in the entire country. He is as disruptive and explosive and powerful as defensive tackle in the county this year. He is a top 75 player that was committed to Clemson. Logan is from New Jersey and he is big, strong and violent. Miami has been good going back to Greg Marks and Danny Stubbs with coming from New Jersey to Miami. He decided to be a Miami Hurricane. He is going to be a stud. Big Chuk was the best player in the state of Delaware. He has a wingspan of a 6-feet-6 guy. Big hand and big features. Explosive and an unbelievable personality. He had 39 tackles for loss in his last two seasons.”
Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.
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