‘Canes football is less than a month away from taking the field at Hard Rock Stadium for its season opener versus Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 1. With several new faces in Coral Gables this year, The Miami Hurricane caught up with players and coaches on media day last week.
Here’s some of what they said.
What’s been the main message from coaches and teammates before the season?
Freshman quarterback Emory Williams — “The number one thing [head] coach [Mario] Cristobal has preached is just about us. Of course, there’s always media — people saying this saying that — [but] coach Cristobal has just always preached it’s about us. It’s about the team. It’s about what we can control and how we can get better.”
Fifth-year senior cornerback Te’Cory Couch — “Just focus one day at a time, one practice at a time, one meeting at a time [and] one play at a time. And everything else will take care of itself.”
Sophomore defensive lineman Nyjalik Kelly — “How you do anything is how you do everything. So that’s really turning everybody around, making everybody good people on and off the field so we can do what we want to do on the field.”
Fifth-year redshirt junior linebacker Ryan Ragone — “One thing we all kind of hear and we all start to believe is it doesn’t take anything more, it just takes all you got. Everything you got is all we need. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Junior linebacker Francisco Maugioa — “I think what’s been emphasized throughout the whole team is having the mindset of teamwork, putting your individual pride on the side and just act[ing] as a team. I think that goes a long way because this is a team sport and if you want to go a long way you gotta act it that way.”
What makes this team special?
Kelly — “Everybody is just more of a team this year. Everybody is not disconnected … If one person goes to dinner, he’s not by himself. He’s with 10, 15 more people. Everybody’s got each other’s backs. I can call literally anybody on the team if I’m in trouble and they’ll help out. They’re just being a team, being a brotherhood.”
Junior safety Kamren Kinchens — “The competitiveness, the ability to lock in and know the bigger picture. It’s just not for yourself, it’s for the whole team.”
Ragone — “I would say during the offseason in the summer workouts it’s all been different. It’s all been more football-oriented … to where [players are] focusing on more football drills, or their IQ on different plays and stuff like that. They’re trying to learn the game and they’re not afraid to be coached. So I’d say that’s different.”
Freshman defensive back Damari Brown — “We’re not looking at last season, but we’re using that to motivate us and just work harder. We have an edge on us. I didn’t play last year, but I can see these guys have an edge on them, and it’s now or never to bring this university back.”
Coach talk
Assistant head coach / offensive line coach Alex Mirabal
On his message to the offensive line:
“With our group, it’s just work everyday. Come to work everyday, and your competition starts with you, and just come get better everyday. That’s it. There’s no secret. The secret is in the work. So that’s my message to them on a daily basis. Just worry about getting better, worry about making our unit better … it’s gotta come from within.”
On what makes the offensive line special:
“Leadership. The leadership from [center] Matt Lee, the leadership from [right guard] Anez Cooper, [and] the leadership from [left tackle] Jalen Rivers. It comes from them not being afraid to tell the other guys in the room, ‘hey, that’s not good enough.’ Or, ‘hey, that’s a good job, next time let’s do this a little bit different.’”
Defensive line coach Jason Taylor
On his message to the defensive line:
“That there’s a standard. There’s a standard to how you do things, and it’s an everyday standard. You don’t turn it on when you get in the grass. You wake up in the morning and you get out of bed, it’s just a way of life. That’s the biggest thing. And there’s things that go into that standard of excellence, but it is the accountability, the responsibility, being disciplined, competing … Everything starts with competing. Everything. I don’t care if you’re brushing your teeth, find a way to compete. Every component of life has a competition side to it, and that’s just what we do. That’s going to be our way of life, our calling card.”
On last season’s losses:
“Every loss is a lesson. You learn from it, but you can’t draw from it. That was six months ago, nine months ago. That’s in the past. You learn, you move forward, and you compete and you get yourself ready to go so it doesn’t happen again. And that’s upstairs and downstairs. We got to compete in recruiting, we got to compete in our preparation, compete in our culture, compete on the field. It’s everything. You’re always going to hear it from me. If you ain’t competing, you’re wasting your time.”
Jared Lennon contributed to the reporting of this article.