Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Mario Cristobal Previews the 2024 Season with Legendary Cane Dan Sileo

before I get Mario Chris bow on here I want to say this to you too uh Saturday's games Clemson Georgia you got Notre Dame A&M then on Sunday you have USC and LSU and of course the game that I'm going to be looking at is UN Florida we went up there to Gainesville and we played the Gators up there and we stopped a 25 game win streak and this was an 86 we went up there I think we had 13 sacks and I think one of the things that are going to be different this year with this team is that I think the kanes have a good front seven no I'll take that back I think they have a great front seven and this is a book Jimmy Johnson sent me you know what it said Dan it was a great run well I think we're gonna go on a run here and I'm looking forward to this year and I think the guy who's the caretaker of our program is a former uh Kane himself National Champion he goes up to Gainesville I wonder what that's going to be like for him standing on the sidelines as the head coach instead of as a player let's bring in the coach Mario chrisal the Miami Hurricanes how you doing coach great to see you brother doing well how about yourself how's that going to be for you standing on the sidelines as the head coach of the Hurricanes instead of a player being up there in Gainesville well it's always the ultimate honor right to wear the orange and green you and kind of like you you wish you could still play right moments like that bring a lot of memories but obviously a tremendous honor and uh really eager to watch our guys and put all that hard work to good use Mario has it been more difficult to build the culture back or build the roster back I think uh it's what we expected you know I think when you when you study uh you know every every place has a different starting point I know we've been able to visit on that at a couple different stops over the last several years and um the starting point at Miami it it was equally uh challenging and the one that we looked forward to one that we never shot away from or ever took pause in in reconstructing and in doing and it's been a tremendous amount of progress in the last couple of years and again looking forward to taking another step a big step this year you know coach I'd have to say this to you know back in the day we had three po programs FSU UF and us now you have UCF you have um UCF you have FAU FIU all that plus you have the influence of the Southeastern Conference coming down into Florida it's a completely different world now plus you add nil it's more difficult to recruit today than it's been in the last 15 years maybe even in the last five years is that fair I think it's it's all relative I think it's always been difficult and I think it's going to continue to get more and more difficult because the world is smaller right I mean there are now Planes Trains and Automobiles that go anywhere and everywhere and you can access somebody's film with you know the the touch of a button so access um both you know standpoint information standpoint and then from onsite in person putting eyes on people it's a lot more feasible which gives you again just a a broader area to recruit and let's call it what it is man I mean there's there's great football being played all over the country and you can't shy away from from getting away and and going and and evaluating players in different parts of the country because Miami is a Melting Pot of the world so I think everybody fits in well down here coach how difficult has Neil made it when it comes to um today's college football I mean there's no question now I mean kids are calling coaches now and something that we never even thought about ever doing was you know you're you're talking there's money involved now but how much of a dynamic has that made it a difficult thing even bigger task on trying to get kids into your program and like you said it's not a Miami issue it's a college football issue I think the off season is a little bit more than a little bit different I think once a roster settled and you start camp I that kind of almost like disappears football still football I think it more than anything it's it's people trying to figure out where is this thing going what are the parameters what are the restrictions what's allowable I think that is probably the more difficult part to that's what adds to the dynamic of difficulty of it but uh I mean we approach it the exact same way you know what find good people that want to work their butts off and do right by others and want to be elite I mean that's you know that's undefeated coach what do you like about this program so much that you go into Florida with great confidence that you're going to come out with the victory I mean it's a big game right out of the gate it's something you and I were reared on we played that game that was our number one game of the year every year I mean I don't ever remember playing a Miami Season down there where we didn't start out with the Gators I mean this is a big time deal here feel comfortable going into this game what makes you so comfortable and confident going into this game this weekend well I don't know I'm ever comfortable doing anything until we play a game you know but I but to the question of what I like best about this team I love the fact that this team they run at the work they run at the work hard they run to the challenges there's no Flinch as it relates to doing the hard labor you know the Intensive hours of film study of the physicality of practice and which means it's a group of guys that they want to improve they want to get better um haven't seen uh entitlement creep into the program I haven't seen um selfishness creep into it and it's something that you always monitor right when you're putting together team but I think the best way to say we're we're really really blessed to have an awesome group of young men that have worked their butts off and you know what now it's time to go find out you know how hard and how well all that work can translate over to the field on game day so it's a it's an exciting bunch of guys to be around they really are they're awesome people so looking forward to watching these guys go to work coach couple last questions I know you're pinned for time because you're getting ready for this thing this weekend here but you know going up to Gainesville there man that's going to be quite an environment a game like that I always felt coach that when you played early you knew kind of where you were coming out of that game you know very young back in the day when we got beat 28 to3 by the Gators we went on to win 11 games in a row we won the national title because a coach figured out what we were Who We Are games like this you like playing these tough games at the beginning to find out kind of where you stand instead of kind of limping into a season I like playing them whenever they show up I mean you know it's you can analyze a schedule every single year and every single year it's got its it's its different components right I mean we've had years like you mentioned where you you start off and right away it's a nationally televised game and sometimes maybe the schedule isn't um you know early on the opponents are a little bit different so I mean either way what you can guarantee what you know going when you put your head down at night is you're going to play against Great teams that have great players so your preparation should never ever sway away from being nothing but your absolute best so for us you know it's we're ready to play ball finally here cam Ward best quarterback that Miami has had since Ken dorsy in my opinion um that's a position that we have not recruited well you come in there are starting bringing kids in now you get this kid to want to come and boy I I tell you what I'm a Heisman voter and I'm pulling for this kid big time because I think he's going to be an impact football player on this team why do you like him so much coach and what has he brought to the program since he's been there you know if if Cam was here right now he like he'd be just yelling at the screen going I don't want to hear about Awards and accolades I just want to go play my best football and win and that's what I like about him that's what we all like about him he um is that what attracted you to him is that this guy here is no know where he is in the room and knows who he is now I like all the components first you got to see it can can he play and then once you see that on film you identify a guy that's accurate gr presence can run can improvise all that stuff what's he made of in here what's he got going up in there and you want to talk about a guy that was raised right that's what he is he's just a he plays and I mentioned it a couple times before he plays the quarterback position like a defensive player like a linebacker like a d tackle he's just very aggressive he's very Alpha and he has has um he really has no like interest in in like getting praised he just wants to go to work and get better well coach I'm Gonna Leave You with this um there's nothing like killing those guys up there and I'm talking for me now here I mean I can't wait to see this man because I think this is going to be the kickoff to where you're going to see this program get back on track where you want it to be and where you played and all the national titles that you won so good luck this weekend coach I'm really looking forward to this man you couldn't start with a better game to start this 24 season go get him appreciate you brother great to see you man go canes you bet go kanes man appreciate it absolutely mariio Chris Ball Man head football coach of the Miami Hurricanes I so look forward to this game um I'll tell you what that guy has put his backbone and boy I'll tell you this they also have spent the money okay they spent the money