Miami Hurricanes Coach Mario Cristobal spoke to the media following Saturday's Spring Game
Opening statement: That wraps up spring ball for us. Good to see our guys come out to another full crowded session and just flat out compete and execute on both sides of the ball and just to watch guys play. I think we accomplished that today. I think you saw some guys who could do something with the ball and some guys that still need to work on that. You've also seen some guy who can knock them back and that's always and continuing never ending process. All in all, a successful spring. A lot of progress and a lot more to go."
On the offense: "I wouldn't label or judge or rate anything until games are played. How many times do you see again, Top 25 preseason and half of those teams don't even make it to a postseason bowl. There's no judgment. We recognize that we have pieces that are coming together. We recognized that we have enhanced the talent in several areas and we're working on depth in others. But we have a long way to go. We're very encouraged, we're very enthused about it but these guys have no reason, no right to hear any praise about where they are right now. They've done nothing, absolutely nothing. We intend to have the most challenging and most productive offseason of our time here at Miami."
On quarterback Darian Mensah: "We're pleased with progress. We still have a long ways to go. You saw some really accurate, long, difficulty, high-degree difficulty throws today that he hit and a couple of others that you have to come up with. When you throw the ball deep in man coverage, if it's on target you've got to get there. Other times, you'd like to have some plays back. But all in all to have your quarterback take all of spring practice and be here for winter workout, it's a tremendous advantage. I think it showed up today. We're expecting him to take another step."
On running back Javion Mallory: I think, since the moment he got here, he's just a very physical runner. You almost underestimate him. You expect him to be really good. That's why we recruited him. But when he takes people on, the collisions and the force that he generates on contact and his contact balance is really impressive. Great young man, awesome young man, hard worker, runs with his pads down, understands football really well. The most impressive part about him is the way he functioned in protection. He was spot on."
On depth: I feel we've got to work. There's no judgement right now. I don't get into that. Do I get excited? Of course. We're driven beyond what I think people can fathom in those cases. That's where we're at right now. We're a team that fully understands to do what we want to and get to where we want to, we have to shut our mouths, go to work and make sure all of the focus is on us. They've got to make sure they close out the outside world."
On Malachi Toney and Mark Fletcher being held out: "They wanted to play. That's the kind of people that they are. They tried to sneak in."