By Scott Salomon
Kevin Costner heard the corn fields talking to him in the movie Field of Dreams. He heard James Earl Jones say time and time again, “If you build it, they will come. People will most definitely come”.
Miami head football coach Mario Cristobal has a similar line that he uses on incoming freshmen and recruits. He says “If you come, you can build it.”
Cristobal is putting his money where his mouth is, as the No. 7 recruiting class of 2023 is paving the way for the undefeated Hurricanes. After four games, the University of Miami freshman class has played an amazing 887 true freshmen snaps. The true freshmen are leading Miami on their way back to relevancy and national prominence.
Right Tackle Francis Mauigoa has started all four games on the offensive line and was considered the main prize in the 2023 class as far as right tackles are concerned. He anchors a line that protects Tyler Van Dyke and opens gouging holes for Henry Parrish, Jr. and fellow true freshman running back Mark Fletcher, Jr. get to run through. Fletcher has played 46 snaps and saw a lot of action early, before suffering through an injury that just saw him come back against Temple two weeks ago. Miami is coming off of a bye week.
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Mauigoa is second in the ACC behind Georgia Tech freshman offensive lineman Ethan Mackenny in total snaps played. Georgia Tech has also played one more game. The two will face each other as the Canes face the Rambling Wreck on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium.
Defensive Lineman Rueben “Hurricane” Bain leads the defensive freshman team with 119 snaps and has started two games due to injuries across the front line and is not giving coaches any reason to get him off the field any time soon.
Bain has played the most snaps of any true freshman in the ACC along the defensive front.
Cristobal gushes over Bain, who just missed out on a fifth-star as a high school senior. “He is about 270 pounds right now, and the motor sticks out right away. He gives me flack because he beat my old high school, Columbus, and he had a sack on the final drive,” Cristobal said. “Rueben is relentless. It defines him. He is technically advanced. This guy is like a rocket ship with explosive power. He is really impressive.”
Miami has played 18 of their 24 true freshmen, not including true freshman punter Dylan Joyce. That makes 19 out of the 25 freshmen that were signed by Cristobal in the last class.
Cristobal speaks glowingly about Mauigoa and fellow linemate Samson Okunlola, who has played 30 snaps on the offensive line for Miami in a backup role. It will be a matter of time before he inherits a starting spot on the offensive line.
The Coach was most excited about keeping Van Dyke upright and opening holes for the running backs who can add a new dimension to the pass-happy Hurricanes in new Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson’s Air Raid Offense.
“Let’s call it what it is; you can’t call plays unless you can block people. There are some beautiful things in these playbooks, but if these guys up front can’t put their bodies and hands-on people, you might as well throw those papers away,” Cristobal said before the season. “They are long, athletic, and explosive. They are about as elite a freshmen as you can have. They are both 6-feet-5 plus and between the 325-pound to 335-pound range. Their body fat is really good, with 18.4 percent and 18.9 percent. Their GPS numbers are good, and their ability to retain information and transfer to drills is impressive. They are powerful guys.”
Cristobal knows all about plug-and-play guys as he recruited NFL and Detroit Lions’ top pick Penei Sewell while the head coach at Oregon. Cristobal is also a former offensive lineman who won two national titles at Miami and who can teach the position as well as any head coach in America.
“Both of them are five-position guys. We cross-train everybody, and it is a unique approach to offensive line development. Penei Sewell came to us with everybody saying he is a right tackle. Well, on day two of practice, we needed him to play on the left side, and he never looked back,” Cristobal said. When the Lions pick him, they moved him back to right tackle. How do they compare to Penei? They are about as high-end as it gets because of their mentalities.”
Cristobal recruited Mauigoa while at Oregon and saw him primarily as a defensive lineman, where he played during his formative years in high school. Mauigoa then showed his versatility and got into a three-point stance, which shocked Cristobal and the coaching staff.
“The biggest thing with Francis is he comes to see us at Oregon, and he is a three-technique. In the middle of a photo shoot, he says, ‘coach, come here, I want to show you something,’ and he gets in a left tackle stance, and I could see the defensive line coach’s hearts just drop to the ground, and I am double fist pumping because he wanted to be an offensive linemen,” Cristobal said. “If you have offensive linemen that can be elite defensive linemen, you are setting yourself up pretty well in the trenches. One of the critical factors for offensive linemen is recoverability. These offensive linemen can get in awkward positions at times, and if they can get a foot in the ground and recover, it is amazing.”
