3 reasons Mario Cristobal can return Miami Football to its glory days

Recruiting

Miami football is unique because of the recruiting opportunities that exist in South Florida. With Florida and Florida State hundreds of miles away, the Hurricanes have one of the best recruiting pipelines in the country to tap into.

Yet, the Hurricanes haven’t found much success. Miami has just one four-star prospect committed from the South Florida area in the 2022 recruiting class and that was just a recent pledge.

Over the years, talent has flooded away from Miami and probably for a myriad of reasons. Kids want to play in the College Football Playoff and get to the NFL.

Miami still sends guys to the NFL but it hasn’t finished ranked in the top 10 in nearly 20 years and won 15 games over the past two seasons.

So it’s no wonder big-time programs from all over the country are coming to the Miami area and stealing what should be the base of Miami’s roster.

It’s the same thing with USC. Lincoln Riley was stealing tons of elite recruits from California. And in a smart move, the Trojans said: If we can’t beat them, hire them, and magically, many of those Southern California prospects are now staying home.

I’ve said that if Riley can recruit Southern California, as well as Pete Carroll did, then USC can and will return to the top of the Pac-12.

That’s probably another reason Cristobal is in Miami. The Oregon job got a lot tougher so why not take a chance to build something special at your alma mater?

After all, Cristobal has proven he’s an elite recruiter at Oregon. He’s won recruiting battles all over the country and against basically every other elite program.

Miami’s facilities need an upgrade (which they are getting) and a new stadium someday wouldn’t hurt, but having an elite head coach, who is also an elite recruiter and a former Miami player, gives the Hurricanes the best chance to put a fence around South Florida again.

And if that happens, watch out.