Cristobal reflects on first fall scrimmage
After seven practices and their first fall scrimmage, the Hurricanes still have plenty to work on, head coach Mario Cristobal said.
“We do a lot of good things that have our trajectory going in the right direction,” Cristobal said in a video released by Miami Athletics, “but as a team, we’re still ... not doing enough of the things to play at a really high level, at a consistently high level.”
Cristobal said the team put in a good effort in Saturday night’s scrimmage, which was closed to the public and media.
“We’re getting there, but it’s obvious we’re not there yet,” Cristobal said. “And most of the work has to take place between the ears because we’ve seen a willingness to go out there and physically compete, to give pretty good effort — not the championship-level effort we want to, but we’re getting better there.”
The Hurricanes’ first-year head coach did not give many specifics on who did well or struggled in the scrimmage, but he said the offense did hit big plays.
“We made explosive plays, and we showed our capabilities of making explosive plays,” Cristobal said. “We came up short on some that were there to be had.”
Cristobal also praised UM’s defense and said the team had improved in tackling — an area where Miami struggled massively in 2020.
“We’re getting guys on the ground,” Cristobal said. “Our angles are better, our pad level is better, our eyes are more disciplined — that’s the biggest thing — and understanding where our help is.”
Cristobal said the team “did not disappoint” in playing with a quick tempo and pace, but the Hurricanes can still work on executing their plays better.
“Execution is up and down,” Cristobal said. “It’s up and down. You always say the same thing: it’s scrimmage one and it’s what you expect. But we don’t. We expect to be better, and we’re going to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”