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For the first time in the 2026 season, IT’S GAME WEEK!!!
Monday (8/31) was the weekly coaches press conference. Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal, Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson, and Defensive Coordinator Corey Hethermen took the podium for the first time this season.
Here are the highlights:
On Miami’s Week 1 opponent Stanford
- Head Coach Mario Cristobal: “We had a chance to watch a really impressive outing by them against a really good Hawaii team. They’ve developed some really good footballers. You see a lot of NFL influences in the schemes that they run…What you saw was a team playing with a lot of energy, physicality, resilience, and certainly closing out the game in impressive fashion…They present a lot of challenges. On offense varied tempos, multiple personnel groupings…Defensively, a very challenging third-down package…The personnel screams at you. They have big long, talented, explosive wide receivers. Big physical tight ends that can play in tight formations and open sets. Their offensive line is really impressive. They have 8 or 9 guys that can start just about anywhere. They handle a lot schematically. Only really good veteran offensive lines can handle that stuff. Just a very impressive organization.”
- HC Cristobal mentioned Stanford key stats:
- 19 of their 22 starters are either juniors or seniors
- Over 500 yards of offense, completed 22-34 passes for about 300 yards, 6 redzone trips, 44% on third down
- On defense held Hawaii to 7 three-and-outs and 40 yards rushing, total.
- Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson: “They’re big. I think they’ve done a really good job of getting more athletic on the backend. I think their corners run really well. Hawaii throws the ball as well as anybody in the nation, and you didn’t see them running wide open. Their DBs are there in the right spot, and their safeties are very aggressive…Their front, their LB’s in my opinion, they take pride in not wanting you to run the football. That’s obvious by how they play and the scheme they play. We have to be a physical offense to be successful in this game.”
- Defensive Coordinator Corey Hetherman: “It’s a veteran group, especially up front. They’re a disciplined team and they’re very well coached…(running back) Ford is a guy we saw last year. I think he’s a very talented player. Their leading rusher coming back. He runs extremely hard. He’s a big back, runs behind his pads, runs through the first tackler, he creates opportunities to make the first guy miss and get some of those hidden yards that keeps you ahead of the sticks….the quarterback is a guy that’s played college football. He’s started 9 games, he has played in some of the biggest environments, he has some really good wins. You can tell that he has good control of the offense right now.”
On having to travel to California for a Week 1 Friday game
- HC Cristobal: “We have a process. We want to get your body and mind acclimated right. The travel plans resemble what we did in the postseason last year. You want to be able to practice out there. The biggest challenge is that it’s a night game.”
- HC Cristobal: “If you analyze any schedule any year it has its challenges…they’re only a big deal if you make a big deal of it as a staff…it’s kind of like distractions, they’re only distractions if you make them a distraction.”
On Miami’s team identity and expectations this season
- HC Cristobal: “I don’t think its fair to the former players or the current players to draw comparisons. Every team is authentic in its own way, and every team has to go out and earn their position on the college football landscape. This team will be judged at the end of the year. Right now everything we do is focused on making sure we go out and earn everything on a play-by-play basis.”
- HC Cristobal: “Today, one of the best plays in practice was a monster collision with Mo and Mark Fletcher. That’s a very welcome thing here at the University of Miami, because if you don’t practice good on good it’s very hard to be your best.”
On having QB Darrian Mensah being healthy this offseason unlike
Beck last year
- HC Cristobal: “The greatest ability is availability, and he’s been available since January…he’s gotten a ton of reps in the system, and he’s such a smart guy that the autonomy that comes with this offense is something that really lends well itself to his abilities. We see a guy that’s capable of doing great things, and we also see a guy that’s very humble and recognizes that all that potential and ability has to be proven on a daily basis.”
- OC Dawson: “Last year was odd in a lot of different ways because [Beck] wasn’t healthy until right towards the end of the summer, and probably not 100% for a little while just to be honest. Offense football is about chemistry, being on the same page, timing, and all the rest. So, having a guy out there that’s taking those reps is vital.”
On new freshmen contributing and possibly seeing playing time
- HC Cristobal: “I wouldn’t assume anybody of any class is going to have a significant role until we go out there and play football. It’s dangerous to crown people before they hit the field and accomplish anything. It’s one of the biggest issues in society nowadays…We have some [players] that mature at a more accelerated rate than others. In a world where older teams have a lot of success, we like to think there’s a lot of truth to that, but in those older players you find maturity. A great example is Malachi Toney who is 18 years old, but he’s mature like a 25 year old. That’s one of our big focuses is whether they just got here or have been here for awhile, that their levels of maturity and professionalism are that where we can trust them and their teammates can trust them.”
On the Offensive Line and possibly being thin on the two-deep
- OC Dawson: “Coach Mirabal does a phenomenal job of getting multiple people ready to play that position. He’s probably the best I’ve been around at rotating offensive linemen throughout the course of camp, throughout the course of summer, and throughout the course of spring. We’re not an operation where one guy plays one position.”
Whether there is a status update on Jordan Lyle
- HC Cristobal: “Same status, letting everything run their process.”
On the RB room workload
- OC Dawson: “We’re going to be a running back by committee, and that’s been the case since I’ve been here. I believe in sharing the carries, I believe in sharing the abuse at that position. That position is a tough one….I don’t want one guy out there all the time, and luckily enough that’s probably our room that’s the deepest, so we’re going to utilize that room.”
On the outside WR depth
- OC Dawson: “We’re going to roll a handful of guys in there. We have a lot of depth at that position to stay fresh and see who’s got the hot hand.”
On dealing with up-tempo offenses like Stanford
- DC Hetherman: “For us, we’re going to play a lot of players. We always have. There were games where we played 24, 25, 26 guys in a game. We believe in playing a lot of players. We anticipated that we’re going to get some tempo from them in the first game. They’re snapping the ball with 28 seconds on the play clock, similar to SMU and South Florida. There’s other times they’re on the ball fast and hold the ball…It’s one thing we’ve been working on all camp just as a defense in general.”
On improvement of veteran linebacker Mo Toure
- DC Hetherman: “I think the biggest thing is just the confidence of coming off an injury and having a full offseason. For the first time in awhile, after the season last year he went into winter workouts, he had spring football, he went into summer workouts, he’s gone through an entire offseason for the first time since like 2021…We’ve been able to increase the rep load a little bit in camp, where last year early on in the season it was ‘where are we going to play him, how are we going to play him.’ Certain packages we may not have had him on in certain situations, and as the year on, his role grew and developed. Now we can do that early on in the season and play him in a lot of different looks.”
On true freshman defensive back JJ Dunnigan
- DC Hetherman: “He’s had a really good camp. He had another pick today, he had three picks the other day. Early on in camp he always found the ball. The ball just seems to find him…he’ll be on [special] teams early, and defensively he’s going to get an opportunity to play early in the game.”
