Mario Cristobal has clear rules for agents when it comes to in-season negotiating

Agents should think twice before calling Mario Cristobal about a young player on the roster.

Cristobal was a guest on the Triple Option podcast featuring Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram II. When the subject of playing and hyping up freshmen, the Miami Hurricanes coach said that sometimes it's wise to keep the noise down about the young talent to keep the agents away.

"The moment I mention a freshman doing great, then our collective gets 18 calls from agents saying, 'Hey, I heard my guy is doing great, maybe he deserves a raise'," Cristobal said to laughter. "Let's let these guys go out there and prove it, and I'll be more than happy to compensate them."

Mario Cristobal talks about some of the perils of the NIL era

Obviously, there was some joking in here, so I wouldn't take Cristobal's words too literally, but there is probably a lot of truth to what he's saying. I have no doubt that there are some agents that stay in contact with the collectives once their player begins to get some burn in hopes of negotiating a better deal. Sure it's a little grimy, but that's their job. It's also Cristobal's job to tell them 'no, we'll talk at the end of the season'. 

Such concerns aren't going to stop Cristobal from playing young players. It's quite the opposite actually, as he understands how important it is to get young players into as many situations as possible throughout the season, so the coaches know which players they can trust and which players need more work in practice or more action in games where the result is firmly in hard and the bench players will get extended snaps.

With no immediate sign of a salary cap, the roster budgets are going to continue to expand and while Miami has certainly shown they aren't afraid to spend, the Hurricanes are not in the SEC or Big Ten where the revenue dollars are flowing a little more freely. That means that Cristobal has to know where to spend more and where the Hurricanes need to search for more value and recruit with the future in mind. 

One of those positions is going to be quarterback, where the Hurricanes have paid for top-end transfers over the past three seasons. By bringing in players like four-star quarterback Israel Abrams and in-state quarterback Knox Annis in the 2028 class, Cristobal is trying to build a quarterback room that will be driven by in-house talent that will give Miami the flexibility to pay for other positions on the roster whether they be players they need to retain or guys out of the transfer portal.

It shows the different things coaches have to worry about these days. Adding the NIL and agents to the college game is still a very new thing and something that all coaches have had to figure out how to manage. Cristobal has great support within the athletic department infrastructure at Miami, and it should help keep the Hurricanes competitive for years to come. 

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