UM ticket sales, interest soaring with Cristobal. And Canes player rankings, NIL update

A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday:

▪ Mario Cristobal remains very good for business, just the way Hurricanes administrators envisioned it when they decided to implement a new financial strategy for Canes athletics.

After selling nearly 30,000 season tickets last year, UM already has surpassed that number more than a month before the Sept. 3 opener against Bethune-Cookman. As of last week, UM had sold 5,000 more season tickets than it did for the entire 2021 season.

UM decided to commit $80 million to Cristobal and millions more to a coaching and support staff based on this business model: Spend money to make money.

“If we get the stadium to 90 percent, 100 percent capacity, [more revenue will result],” UM chief of staff Rudy Fernandez explained to me and The Palm Beach Post in December. “Football has been making money. And it’s going to make a lot more money. We believe the football program will generate the revenue to pay for these expenses.”

UM sold 2,000 new season tickets in the first week they went on sale after Cristobal’s hiring, and the athletic department received $1 million in donations in his first three weeks on the job.

Meanwhile, Harry Rothwell — who owns the allCanes retail store near UM’s campus (allcanes.com) — said UM merchandise sales are 20 percent higher than last July. He sold a few hundred of the “I’m All In Coach Cristobal” T-shirt.

On the back, the shirt says “Own the state, restore the glory” and lists the years of the five national championships.

By mid-August, Rothwell expects to receive blank jerseys, allowing fans to superimpose the name and number of their favorite player. Under new NIL rules, a machine will keep track of what players’ jerseys are requested and how often. And the player will receive about $3 from the sale of each one of his jerseys from participating outlets.

▪ Pro Football Focus rates Tyler Van Dyke the 10th-best quarterback in the country and Will Mallory the No. 23 tight end.

▪ Meanwhile, PFF rates left tackle Zion Nelson the 33rd player overall on its preseason Big Board for the 2023 NFL Draft.

Cristobal said Nelson is “explosive, a really impressive athlete. Great balance and body control. Heavy-handed, light feet. Great knowledge of the game. Great feel for the game. Understands leverage. He is an impressive guy.”

▪ PFF rated two Canes among 25 potential breakout players in college football this season: wide receiver Brashard Smith and safety James Williams.

PFF said of Smith: “Everyone knows that new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis likes to get tricky so expect a good amount of end-arounds, reverses, sweeps and other trickery to keep the defense on its toes, and Smith will likely be the playmaker Gattis uses in these scenarios.

“The 2021 four-star recruit has the speed to turn schemed touches into big gains, as the 5-foot-10, 194-pound receiver earned an 88.3 receiving grade from 25 routes last season. He was targeted 14 times at an 0.9-yard average depth and averaged 13.4 yards after the catch from his 14 receptions with four broken tackles.”

And PFF said Williams “has superstar potential thanks to his off-the-charts physical traits. It’s not a matter of if — it’s a matter of when — the 6-foot-5, 224-pound safety makes the major jump. The 2021 five-star recruit produced the fourth-highest coverage grade in the ACC (78.1) as a true freshman last year.”

▪ One Canes basketball official said the fact that recruits know that John Ruiz is ready to step up to give lucrative NIL deals allows the Canes to more consistently compete for top-30 players. “It’s a game-changer,” the official said.

Ruiz gave Kansas State transfer guard Nijel Pack a two-year, $800,000 deal to promote Life Wallet and Cigarette Racing.

Dan Lambert, UM’s most prominent NIL presence before Ruiz struck deals with 115 Canes players, said he will again give each Canes scholarship football player a $500 monthly stipend to promote his business American Top Team and remains in discussions with other companies to raise that to $1,000 a month.

▪ If you missed this, the Hurricanes on Sunday received a non-binding commitment from Shreveport, Louisiana-based Abram Murray, considered the No. 1 kicker in the 2024 class. He would be a freshman when current kicker Andres Borregales is a senior.

Four-star Fort Lauderdale Dillard safety Antione Jackson is UM’s other 2024 commitment.