On Monday morning, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal met with the media and shared his thoughts on the program and his team’s preparation for the Ball State game this Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
On the FAMU game…
"Obviously got to play a really good team last week, this past Saturday. Coach Colzie and those guys do a really good job. Started fast and got a little bit of a offensive rut there for a bit, and then snapped out of it, responded well, and had a chance to play some better football. And played a lot of guys. A lot of freshmen played, a lot of redshirt freshmen played. Have some areas where we improved, and some other areas that we certainly got to get better at, particularly the post snap penalties and whatnot. But again, a lot of positive stuff.
On playing a lot of guys on Saturday…
"They earned it. Certainly when we enter games like that, we never present playing opportunities and playing time as an inherent right. We made sure that that was something that was going to be earned, was going to be displayed, exhibited in practice. That they were going to have to know what they're doing, how they're doing it, why we're doing it that way, and then let them compete. They earned the opportunity. I do want to single out point out both Robert Satfford and Adarius Hayes on special teams. Our coverage team on kickoff took a massive step up because of those two guys, some other guys, but those two guys really stood out and were Special Teams Players of the Game, but just a couple more examples of guys that earned that time and made the most of it.”
On Cam Ward’s approach to the game…
He's excelled in practices. He's excelled as a leader, and certainly in games he's done it as well. There's a lot more to him. You know, I think it's good everyone saw him take off with the ball the other day. And you know, certainly we don't want him jumping around all over the place, but when you have to, you have to. And again, he's not made out of ceramic, and doesn't play like a guy that's fragile. He throws his body around and he does whatever he has to to help his teammates win. So there's a lot more in the tank for Cam Ward. I think people will continue to see what we believe, and what we know, but he's exhibiting it, so we won't proclaim it. We'll just let him continue to show it.”
On Player Development…
Coach Cristobal praised the progress of a number of his younger players, including Emory Williams, Robby Washington, Markell Bell, Dyoni Hill, Wesley Bissainthe, Isiah Horton and Chris Johnson. Getting game snaps goes a long way in their development.
On Ball State…
"First thing that sticks out is their offensive line. Big, nasty, physical, four or five returning starters, a ton of starts together. Just nasty. I mean, they get after you. They really, really do. The quarterback played a great game this past game. They have explosive wide receivers, and they're a veteran offensive crew. They have a lot of change over on defense, but you don't see a drop off on defense. You're looking at a team I believe, last half of their season, last year, they allowed, you know, barely over 15 points a game and they fortified their roster with some transfers and some freshmen and some other guys that have been in the program for a while. So we studied them throughout the summer, and we knew that this was going to be a really good opponent coming into play. So we're excited for the challenge there.”
On the big upsets in college games this season…
"You better learn your lessons by watching or listening, or you're going to feel them. That's a reality. And here's the thing, guys, is that every team has good football players. And if you don't really believe that, and you don't really train like that, there's gonna come a Saturday or Friday or Thursday where you're gonna be disappointed. And you know for us, the best thing that we do, the very best thing that we do, is the way we practice. The way we practice and prepare. And the best thing that we have going for us, and it's led by the team, the best thing we have going for us is our culture. And it allows us to be just very blunt and real and right to the point and get to business. But we made it very clear from the beginning, there are no easy games on our schedule, and whoever thinks that way, will be disappointed one day. So stay hungry, stay driven.”
“The most important game of the year is at 3:30 on Saturday, and we're looking forward to it.”
GO CANES!
Comments