Mario Cristobal will deal with some youth on Miami's offense, but it will be worth it

The Miami Hurricanes might be younger than you think, but it's not as concerning as it looks.

Cody Nagel of CBS Sports ranked the 138 FBS teams by the most experienced rosters based on snap count. The Hurricanes were inside the top 30, finishing 29th, sandwiched in between conference rival Louisville and BYU of the Big 12. The first 32 schools on the list are in the Power 4, so that puts Miami slightly above average in terms of experience.

Miami's offense is talented and more experienced than you think

The details of these rankings come down to the total number of snaps for the team, and it's then broken down into offensive snaps, defensive snaps, total games and starts. Miami has the 53rd-most offensive snaps, which makes sense with some of the youth on the offensive line and young players at wide receiver. Starting a true freshman at offensive tackle is a risk, but Jackson Cantwell isn't a normal true freshman

There is plenty of experience returning, like running back Mark Fletcher Jr. and wide receiver Malachi Toney. The Hurricanes also added more experience on offense through the transfer portal with quarterback Darian Mensah and wide receivers Cooper Barkate and Cam Vaughn, all multi-year starters.

Virginia has the team with the most offensive snaps in the country, followed by Houston, South Carolina, UCLA and Oklahoma in the top five. And there isn't a Miami fan on Earth that would trade the Hurricanes offense for any of the teams mentioned. 

Miami's defense has a lot more experience than you think

The Hurricanes ranked ninth in defensive snaps. That's a little surprising considering they lost experienced starters Rueben Bain Jr, Akheem Mesidor, Jakobe Thomas and Keionte Scott to the NFL Draft. But it also speaks to Mario Cristobal's commitment to a deep rotation of players and giving young guys a lot of snaps. It was a strategy that paid off as the season progressed because the underclassmen gained confidence and allowed Cristobal to use that depth during Miami's postseason run.  

A lot of the experience comes from the linebacker position with Mo Toure (eighth year) and Chase Smith (sixth year) finishing up long college football careers. With the losses on the defensive line, it's going to be up to some very promising young players to take the next step forward, but they all have a lot of snaps to lean on. Armondo Blount is being pegged by some as the next great Miami defensive lineman, but Ahmad Moten might also be in that discussion and Marquise Lightfoot is a former five-star prospect. Incoming transfer Damon Wilson II adds to the overall snap count and was arguably the best edge rusher available in the portal. 

Miami got rewarded for playing young guys in the secondary last year and now second-year starters like Xavier Lucas and Zechariah Poyser will be firmly entrenched in their roles, while OJ Frederique (nine starts) and Bryce Fitzgerald (four starts), played enough snaps to be capable in any situation and should adjust smoothly to full-time starting roles. 

In today's college football world, there's too much movement to have experience at every position, but the Hurricanes are well-equipped to make a run at a championship this year and are recruiting at a high-enough level to keep the window open for several years. 

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