The one positive so far in Cristobal’s first UM season. And why he’s still so confident

A quick six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Thursday:

▪ Mario Cristobal’s biggest accomplishment during this 3-4 nightmare start to his first season at UM?

Somehow keeping together a 2023 recruiting class that’s ranked 11th nationally by 247 Sports.

Not a single of the 17 players has decommitted since the season started.

And in fact, UM had a huge get today, landing a nonbinding commitment from five-star cornerback Cormani McClain.

Four-star IMG Academy tight end Riley Williams explained it this way to Canesport: “It’s not how us recruits expected it to go, but it’s the game of football. There are ups and downs, just how life goes. We all see the vision. They talk to us about it all the time and they joke with us, like we need y’all tomorrow, we need you at practice. We all see the vision of where it’s going.”

Four-star offensive line commitment Antonio Tripp made clear on Twitter this month that “this class [is] locked in and we still building this 2023 class Wait till y’all see who next.”

It speaks to Cristobal’s gifts as a recruiter.

▪ Among the reasons why UM officials aren’t panicking over this start to the Cristobal era: They know this will be his first full recruiting cycle, and he has a proven ability to attract talent.

And Cristobal has repeatedly cited the same explanation for why he’s not worried:

He says his program, his way of doing things, has “worked and it’s worked to a T. Going up north, Going out west, going to SEC [where he was an assistant at Alabama].”

That’s not what you would typically hear from a coach whose career record is 65-64, but Cristobal is right in the sense that he built FIU and Oregon into winning programs.

“It’s stood the test of time. It’s got great results. Our coaches understand the demands that come with this blueprint. Everyplace I’ve been has a been a building process, minus one in [Alabama under Nick Saban]. The best indicator of future performance is what you’ve done in the past. Has your teams won? Have you produced [high] round picks?”

Cristobal implies that he has, meaning at Oregon, where he won 9, 12 and 10 games (and a Rose Bowl in three full seasons).

▪ Offensive tackle Zion Nelson’s setback with his knee, which has limited him to 61 snaps this season, has been a surprise internally.

“We were hoping Zion would be ready to play,” Cristobal told Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey. And “losing Justice Olawaseun, he’s one of the most physical players on the team.”

Nelson might miss the rest of the season, and Olawaseun also could be out awhile.

▪ UM, justifiably so, has decided to further increase the workload of Henry Parrish Jr., who is clearly Miami’s best back.

He ran 11 times for 63 yards against Duke, a 5.7 average.

Jaylan Knighton ran 7 times for 26 yards, a 3.7 average.

Parrish’s career average is 5.5 per carry, Knighton’s 3.9.

“Parrish looks like he’s back to form,” Cristobal said. “He’s a guy that needs more touches.”

▪ One point that these coaches have tried to pound into this team is that they can’t fold under adversity. It has been a problem that has plagued UM football through this decade-plus of mediocrity.

“You can’t allow any bad play, any bad injury any penalty to take away from the mind-set of you know you can score on the next drive [or make a stop].,” Cristobal said. “It’s a DNA thing. We are working relentlessly [to change that].”

Cristobal brought up that issue at least three times on his radio show this week. It’s clearly irking this staff.

“I’ve got to do a better job helping my team understand the importance of resiliency,” he told Zagacki and Bailey.

▪ When UM guard Isaiah Wong recently was named to the Jerry West Award watch list for the second year in a row, basketball coach Jim Larranaga informed him in a creative way.

“I texted him that Jerry West was my favorite player when I was your age and now you’re my favorite player,” Larranaga told Zagacki. “He got a kick out of that.”

By the way, when people ask Larranaga if he will again play small ball this season, he says: “We’re going to play smaller ball.”

That’s because 6-10 Sam Waardenburg has departed, replaced by 6-7 Norchard Omier, who’s a better rebounder despite being shorter.