Miami embarks on Step 1 toward rebuilding. Players ready to ‘run through a wall’ for coach

Is it any wonder not one question was asked about the University of Miami’s opening-game opponent Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium?

This was about as close as it came this week in Mario Cristobal’s first pregame news conference as No. 16 Miami’s 26th head football coach approached the 3:30 p.m. home opener — and his UM debut — against Bethune-Cookman University: “Is Week 1 a week where you hope you could see 2s maybe 3s?” meaning the backups and third-string players.

Cristobal: “Oh, that would be complete disrespect to any opponent. I would never speak that way about anybody. Bethune is a good football team with good football coaches and all we’re looking for is to play our very best football.”

For clarity, the FCS Bethune-Cookman Wildcats and Miami Hurricanes have met five times since October 2011, and Miami leads the series 5-0, with 232 total points to the Wildcats’ 37. The last time the teams met, on Sept. 14 in 2019, UM won 63-0 — then finished the season 6-7.

So, Cristobal, as excited as he might be deep underneath all the “back-to-work” layers he believes are imperative in running a major program, knows this is only one step in a long grind toward bringing the Hurricanes back to national prominence.

However, better believe those second- and third-teamers will see their share of playing time Saturday, unless something extremely strange unfolds before the 50,000 or so fans expected to witness the start of UM’s newest era.

Cristobal, 51, the former Oregon coach who replaced Manny Diaz (21-15 in three seasons), was 35-13 in four seasons as the head man at Oregon, with a 22-1 home record and two Pac-12 titles. He won two national titles in 1989 and 1991 as a UM offensive tackle, but never talks “championships,’’ at least to the media, in terms of goals.

“I just think it’s a cardinal sin to talk about being a champion and make a proclamation without ever taking a snap in a live game,’’ he said. “I don’t think you ever set yourself or your team up for something like that. The process is what the process is. There’s no way to get to Point B without going through all the steps that come through Point A.’’

Cristobal’s players appear to have thoroughly bought in to his no-nonsense but loyal approach.

All ‘love’

“There’s nothing but love,’’ cornerback Tyrique Stephenson said this week of his coach. “I know the love he has for this program and all the love of all those practices he put himself into. It’s just love. that’s the main reason why he’s so serious and so on top of everything.

“He wants everything to be a certain way because he knows what this organization means to the world. It’s his love for the university that has him always locked in and always going.’’

Said sophomore safety Kamren Kinchens, another expected starter: “Hey, he’s going to make sure everybody is in line. He just brings the energy. It maybe comes off serious to most people but that’s what we know we need.”

Does that energy rub off on the Hurricanes?

“Of course it does,’’ Kinchens said. “It has everybody going. After he gives any speech, we’re ready to run through a wall for him.”

And this from defensive tackle Jared Harrison-Hunte, one of several members of a new-and-improved defensive line expected to rotate more than a dozen players to keep everyone fresh and hungry: “Now that Mario’s back, I imagine it will be a loud stadium. I know for the team, that brings a lot of energy, a lot of juice.’’

The UM offense, overshadowed by the defense in preseason scrimmages, does have at least one invaluable weapon in the starting lineup: reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year Tyler Van Dyke, a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate who became the first quarterback since Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow in 2019 to record six consecutive 300-yard passing games with at least three touchdowns in each of those games.

‘Oh my God!’

Van Dyke said the first time Cristobal walked into a meeting room, his intensity radiated. “Everyone was just sitting in their chair like, ‘Oh my God!’

“It’s definitely contagious. This time last year we didn’t really have that. ...We had a good team aspect but I don’t really think we had that mentality and discipline — people [were] missing class, not doing the right things on and off the field.

“How you do anything,’’ Van Dyke concluded, repeating Cristobal’s mantra, “is how you do everything.’’

On Saturday, the Hurricanes hope Step 1 is a positive bridge to Step 2: Southern Miss at noon Sept. 10 at Hard Rock Stadium. Among the veteran leaders, defensive backs Al Blades Jr. (safety) and Gil Frierson (star) will use their experience to help calm the younger Canes.

“My first game was a little bit different,’’ said Blades, a fifth-year redshirt junior. “Coming from [Fort Lauderdale] St. Thomas [Aquinas High] I felt I was ready for the lights. So the crowd doesn’t really get to me. But a lot of those guys are going to have some gamers. For the guys that do feel a little bit shaky, we’ll be right there with them.“

Frierson acknowledged that everyone gets “butterflies,’’ but that he and the other leaders will help allay any fears.

“You know your first game you’re always jittery at the next level,’’ Frierson said. “I tell them, ‘Just think about when you were a kid. You just wanted to play football. Nothing else really mattered. You just wanted to go out there and play. And always remember where you come from.’

“When you get out there you’re kind of nervous and you might think you need to do more than you have to. But if you just do your job...it’s all going to come in place for you.”