New Miami head coach Mario Cristobal has an extensive history signing five-star players. Cristobal became an elite recruiter as an assistant coach at Alabama under Nick Saban. After joining the staff at Oregon as an assistant coach and then being promoted to head coach, Cristobal continued to show he is an elite recruiter.
Mario Cristobal was credited with Alabama signing seven five-star players during his four seasons in Tuscaloosa. Four different positions were represented when among the seven five-star players Cristobal was credited with signing at Alabama. Five of the five-star players were on offense and two on defense.
Cristobal was credited with cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick, defensive tackle Daron Payne, offensive tackles Alex Leatherwood, Jonah Robinson and Cameron Williams and wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and Calvin Ridley. Three of the seven five-star Cristobal Alabama signees are from Florida.
Jeudy played at Deerfield Beach, Ridley at Monarch High School in Pompano Beach and Leatherwood is from Pensacola. With Cristobal now at Miami, top skill position players like Jeudy and Ridley will consider Miami far more. Getting five-star offensive linemen and wide receivers will greatly upgrade the Miami roster.
On today's episode of the Football Recruiting podcast, @Andrew_Ivins joins @bangulo to discuss the changing dynamics of Florida recruiting with Billy Napier now in Gainesville and Mario Cristobal now at Miami!
— 247Sports (@247Sports) December 7, 2021
They also break down what each could do leading up to Signing Day!
Cristobal continued to be an elite recruiter at Oregon and particularly as the Ducks’head coach. Following the departure of Willie Taggart to Florida State, Cristobal greatly improved the Oregon recruting classes. In the four seasons under Cristobal, Oregon signed the sixth, seven, 11th and 13th ranked recruiting classes.
In the four seasons Cristobal was the head coach at Oregon, the Ducks signed four five-star players. That included the second overall player in the Class of 2019 Kayvon Thibadeoux and three five-star signees in 2020. The 2020 class had four players ranked in the top five at their position.
It is going to take Cristobal some time to get Miami competing on a National Level again. With five new head coaches in the ACC Coastal entering the 2022 season, Miami should compete for a division title next year. Cristobal is quickly making an impact. It would not be surprsing for Miami to sign several elite prospects next week.
The task after being hired barely over a week before Early National Signing Day is immense. Cristobal and his staff have a spring to next week. After ENSD is over next week, expect Cristobal and his staff to look to the transfer portal and then focus on Traditional National Signing Day on February 2.