The Miami Hurricanes are weeks out from the 2025 season-opener; national runner-up and hated rival Notre Dame rolling in for a primetime showdown on August 31st—and if all goes according to plan, this could be the start of something special as year four of the Mario Cristobal era gets underway.
Of course the mere premise of anything good happening for the Canes is too hard for some to handle, as years worth of irrelevance and incompetence have left a large percentage of this fan base feeling burned—to the point they’ll believe it when they see it as many enter another season expecting the worst and hoping for the best.
On the surface the sentiment is understandable; fool us once, shame on you … fool us every season for the past two decades, the joke is on all who believed.
Still, at some point the emotion that comes from the frustration and bitterness regarding decades of disaster; it needs to yield to logic and reason and an authentic deep dive into what is, instead of this intense focus on what was.
Understandably, fans let their guard down last year after a 9-0 start and a world-class offense run by Cam Ward—who rode that success into being a Heisman finalist and the top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft—but a trash defense and 1-3 skid to end the season ultimately defined the the Canes in 2024, so there’s expected trepidation going into a Ward-less new year.
Carson Beck transferred south from Georgia; a two-year starting quarterback for the Bulldogs who went 24-3 over that span—winning two SEC titles and projected as the top pick in last spring’s draft before the Dawgs backslid as a program and a conference championship game injury forced a return to college in 2025 to recalibrate his draft stock.
For Miami. losing to Georgia Tech and Syracuse, missing the ACC Championship game and winding up in the Pop Tarts Bowl instead of the College Football Playoffs; it’s enough to make even the most supportive fans put their heads in the sand late last year—choosing to detox on all things Canes-related until a new season was within spitting-distance and redemption was on deck—which brings us to here and now.
All that to say, anywho checked-out—versus those who continued following this thing through transfer portal season, the early signing period, National Signing Day and the spring portal window—the in-the-know have absorbed enough date to be more than cautiously optimistic entering this 2025 season and implore all true Canes to dive back into the pool.
LEARN FROM THE PAST; EMBRACE THE NEW & NOW
Something is brewing year four of this new era and for those quick to dismiss the Canes’ potential on a surface level; Ward moving on, Beck needing to prove himself, last year’s deplorable defense, or some much-needed coaching turnover—again, it’s time for a reeducation as Miami is less than two weeks out from hosting Notre Dame for the August 31st season opener, while the Florida Gators roll into HardRock on September 20th.
First and foremost, there is a noticeable confidence and belief in this roster that Cristobal hasn’t had in years past—while offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson has been bullish and transparent regarding what he feels he has under the hood with Beck. This coaching staff believes these Hurricanes are finally passing the smell test and that the personnel issues that have plagued this program in one way or another the past three years; they appear to be a thing of the past.
Anyone still trying to buy into this current roster, take a trip down nightmare lane and a few short years again when this Miami program was littered with Manny Diaz holdovers; a completely different attitude and culture from what Cristobal showed up and had to rebuild in that brutal 2022 season.
The stories all came out after the coaching change; Diaz the type of players’ coach who needed to be liked and accepted—famously not wanting to hold players accountable or to discipline his stars for fear they’d run to the portal—ultimately leaving the inmates to run the asylum.
It wound up a worst-cast scenario for an old school coach like Cristobal—a two-time national champion at Miami and homegrown kid who constantly talks about hard work and accountability—while rebuilding a roster full of kids that have that healthy dose of fear and respect for that hard-ass brand of coaching that championship caliber programs live by.
The result of that early-on roster discord; a sub-.500 season and split locker room as some guys bought in, but most didn’t—which turned what most hoped was a little patch-and-paint work in to a full blown tear-down and rebuild—forcing Miami to take several steps backwards before there could be any meaningful progress.
This was 2022 and the failed one-year stint with Josh Gattis running his abysmal offense, while Kevin Steele rolled in as the long-tenured defensive coordinator—the pickings slim for Cristobal with the Miami brand effectively in the toilet; a revolving door in Coral Gables as he was now the third head coach in five years and the program’s sixth in 17 seasons.
Not exactly the picture of stability or the greatest selling point for higher-profile assistants looking to climb the coaching ladder, furthering their careers.
By year’s end Gattis was gone and Steele failed-upwards, landing back at Alabama with his buddy Nick Saban—leaving Cristobal to reel in Dawson to run the offense, while Lance Guidry was tossed the keys to Miami’s defense.
Two years later, Dawson panned out while Guidry tanked—leading to his firing at the end of last season. Cristobal is now breaking in his third defensive coordinator in four seasons—which isn’t optimal, but is infinitely better than blind loyalty, which defined the Al Golden era as the former head coach literally went down with the ship, refusing to fire his defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio—who outlasted his boss as Golden was fired mid-2015 after a 58-0 home loss to Clemson.
Making this early situation worse; instability at quarterback as this was the Tyler Van Dyke era of Miami football—a few good games in 2021 on the heels of that 2-4 start for the Hurricanes; Van Dyke completely lost all short-lived swag and after two brutal years playing for Cristobal, the off-brand, milquetoast quarterback transferred to Wisconsin after the debacle that was the 2023 season.
To recap; a disaster of a roster, a slew of checked-out players, constant turnover at coordinator and a wrong-fit quarterback leading the offense—en route to 12-13 two-year run before a massive step forward in 2024.
The addition of Ward behind an improving offensive line, a capable ground attack and a few trusty pass-catchers—the Washington State transfer quickly took over—but Guidry’s defense fast fell behind.
A few key guy banged up early before chinks in the armor began to show and by November, Miami’s defense was bleeding out—completely lost against Georgia Tech’s quirky offense and then wheels-off at Syracuse two weeks later, where a 21-0 lead was blown and the Orange went on a 42-17 run to squeeze the Canes.
The result? Exit, Guidry. Enter, Minnesota defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman.
RETURN OF THE ATTACK-STYLE DEFENSE
Hetherman hails from the Greg Schiano coaching tree—which is welcomed news to fans who remember the vast difference between the 1998 defense Bill Miller ran under Butch Davis, versus the attack-attack-attack scheme Schiano implemented in 1999—which became Miami’s calling card over the next several years.
Hetherman statistically had a Top Five defense last year in the Big Ten; an 8-5 season—losing three games by a field goal, or less—including falling to No. 12 Michigan and No. 4 Penn State, which was much tougher sledding that Guidry faced with last year’s ACC slate.
Does Miami needs to prove it on the field and yes, a will this new defense need to deliver the goods before fans fully buy-in? Sure. But the coaching changes and personnel improvements are all massive and deserve more credit than outsiders with a surface-level understanding of Hurricanes football are giving this program going into a new year.
Go read any season preview or listen to any talking head pundits talking about Miami football this off-season and it’s a slew of conversation about the offense needing to rebuild without Ward, expected chatter about Beck needing to stay healthy, on-the-nose commentary about the Canes breaking in new wide receivers—while pointing out a new coordinator and some new bodies over there, where the defense has a lot to improve upon after the 2024 crash-and-burn.
Hetherman’s one-year sample-sizing was enough as Cristobal bought into Hetherman’s philosophy; a position-less defensive scheme that focuses on situational match-ups and playing to Miami’s strengths—exploiting opponents weaknesses and putting defenders in the best positions possible to make plays.
Beyond the change in scheme and philosophy, the personnel will be night and day defensively for Miami—all of this combined enough to make even the biggest cynic reevaluate what the Canes will look like on that side of the ball in 2025.
Looking back on last season, the secondary started unraveling as soon as cornerback Damari Brown got injured at Florida, while Rueben Bain got bang-up in The Swamp, missed the next four games and was never really himself the rest of the year.
It was a paper-thin secondary for the Canes, a linebacking corps that lacked some size and experience—while the defensive line depth and rotation was nowhere near where it needed to be—which is a world of difference from what Miami will field this fall.
Again, this is the place where the disgruntled fan who checked out last December is at a disadvantage from the obsessed observer who followed the recruiting cycle and tuned into every vlog or podcast the past nine months—watching this defensive rebuild brick-by-brick as Cristobal continued load the roster with right-fit, immediate-impact guy who can dive this 2025 turnaround.
PERSONNEL UPGRADES ACROSS THE BOARD
Beyond adding Hetherman to run the show, Miami retained the services of Jason Taylor—as you don’t run off an NFL Hall of Famer with deep South Florida recruiting ties; Taylor a key figure in a lot of recent defensive line recruiting battles for the Canes.
All the other names and faces are brand new and are big-time upgrades; starting with former Miami great Damione Lewis (Colorado) joining Taylor to ramp up that defensive line—while Zac Etheridge (Houston) and Will Harris (Florida) take over what was a brutal secondary last fall, leaving Hetherman to coach up linebackers.
Personnel-wise, the game has completely changed—the secondary loaded with corners, safeties and nickel specialists who will all fit into this new defensive scheme—be it Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State) and Jakobe Thomas (Tennessee) added to that safety room, or beefing up cornerback depth with Keionte Scott (Houston via Auburn), Ethan O’Connor (Washington State), Charles Brantley (Michigan State) and hometown-star-who-got-away, Xavier Lucas (Wisconsin) returning home
David Blay (Louisiana Tech) added depth and experience to the defensive line, while the linebacking corps got tougher overnight when Kamal Bonner (North Carolina State) and veteran Mohamed Toure (Rutgers) showed up on the scene.
Yes, these are just names on paper from a recruiting website to some; but anyone who has watched tape on these guys or studies the resumes, understands the backstory—these are all massive additions to this roster.
Poyser was one of the most-coveted safeties of this portal cycle, while Thomas was going to start in the secondary for the Volunteers this fall.
Lucas balled-out as a freshman in Wisconsin last season; to the point the Badgers tried to sue the Canes for luring him away—while Toure is on his own Beck-like journey here on the other side of the ball; the linebacker a freshman all the way back in 2019—one final chance to shine, playing his way up the draft boards as he’s already NFL-ready, barring he can stay healthy.
Portal pick-ups aside, Miami is also in position for some true sophomores to take a step forward—5-Star players like Justin Scott, Armondo Blount and Marquise Lightfoot all crown-jewel defensive linemen in the 2024 class who put in that weight room work to roll into this new season looking the part—while Cam “Bobby” Pruitt is turning heads at linebacker, Booker Pickett is making noise at edge and Dylan Day is climbing that depth chart at safety.
This is the point where eyes glaze over for the disgruntled and the prove-it crowd; those fast to roll up two decades of irrelevance and set it at the doorstep of a fourth-year head coach that took over this dog of a program—Cristobal handing over a loaded, built-from-the-ground up roster in Oregon back in 2022, before leaving a four-year, 35-12 run to restart the process of turning boys into men back home in Coral Gables.
To that point, go back and deep-dive those 2022 and 2023 rosters at Miami—the names, the depth chart, the metrics, the loser mentality, the lack of productivity and a slew of wrong-fit guys coming out of the Diaz regime—and compare that to what the Hurricanes are about to roll out with this season.
OFFENSE LOSES ‘STABILTY’; UPGRADED TALENT
Restrepo, George, Horton and Arroyo are gone—but don’t confuse lost experience with the talent currently sitting in Miami’s receiving corps.
Veteran transfers like CJ Daniels (LSU)—another from the class of 2o2o—as well as Tony Johnson (Cincinnati) in the slot and Keelan Marion (BYU), a speedster who will also return kicks; Beck will have his share of upperclassmen to spread the ball around to, while Miami has it’s share of homegrown kids ready to break out.
True freshman receiver Malachi Toney is all the talk of fall camp as he’s showing superstar traits out the gate—while big threat Josh Moore has been pulling down everything thrown his way and Chance Robinson is making his own brand of noise. The Canes also return the elite JoJo Trader—who looks ready to roll—while the talented, homegrown Ray Ray Joseph will push Toney and Johnson for slot-receiver reps that Restrepo owned last fall.
Arroyo’s departure, Cam McCormick (finally) graduating, as well as Riley Williams transferring back to the left coast—the tight end room had some question marks, but has fast come around—and it’s more than just the versatile Elijah Lofton stepping up. Alex Bauman (Tulane) is healthy and will be that prototypical tight end that Beck loves throwing to at Georgia back in 2023, while freshman Brock Schott and the massive-yet-fluid Luka Gilbert both look ready to make an immediate impact this season.
Roll all that up with a veteran, stacked offensive line—Francis Mauigoa and the freakish, improved Markel Bell hold down the tackle spots, while Ryan Rodriguez and born-leader Anez Cooper are set at guard, with James Brockermeyer (TCU) transferring in as a veteran center for Beck—while the depth behind this quintet is also strong and ready to go; Samson Okunola, Matt McCoy, SJ Alofaituli and Tommy Kinsler; it’s talent and size galore up front.
On the ground, it’s a three-headed monster with the return of Mark Fletcher and Jordan Lyle, while CharMar Brown (North Dakota State) will round out that trio—and true freshman Gerald Pringle should see the kind of action Lyle experienced as a freshman last fall.
Long-time supporters of the Canes can attest that there’s never been this type of focus on offensive line size, depth, technique and talent—to the point Miami has now has one of the best units in the country entering 2025, while the recruitment on the position remains top-flight moving forward.
Yet even with all of this, growth and improvement—the situation remains muddled; a portion of the fan base not ready to buy in, while ill-informed outside poke holes and lazy media members take a sensationalized TMZ approach when it comes to Beck and Miami as a whole.
LAZY MEDIA NARRATIVE AROUND BECK
As has been written here in the past, had Beck stayed at Georgia—or bought what Alabama was selling—the former Bulldogs starter and two-time conference champion would all the rage this off-season; hyping his 24-3 record and the SEC East powerhouse program, while last year’s 202nd-ranked rushing attack would shoulder much of the blame, as would Dawgs’ receivers leading the NCAA in drops last fall.
The lack of offensive firepower cost Georgia road games at Alabama and Ole Miss, but an overtime SEC Championship game win over Texas paved the way to the College Football Playoffs—where Notre Dame took out a Beck-less squad as Stetson Bennett struggled in his new starting role.
Perception has become reality with Beck due to the narrative being spun about a “down” 2024 season and year two as a starter.
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is garnering the SEC hype that would’ve been Beck if he stayed in the preferred conference, despite the fact Beck had a higher completion percentage than the Tigers’ quarterback—and also higher than Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is still all the ACC accolades from the SEC defector.
Efficiency-wise, the two were similar—Nussmeier threw 29 touchdowns, Beck threw 28 and both had a dozen interceptions—while Beck finished eighth overall in QBR at 80.9 and Nussmeier was 80.0 for tenth in the nation.
Nussmeier threw for 4,052 yards—567 more than Beck—the Tigers’ starter with 77 more attempts and 47 completions, while Bulldogs receivers dropped 36 passes and left 665 yards on the field, not counting any potential yards-after-catch.
Going as far back as the 2023 season that put Beck atop everyone’s draft board; the then-Georgia quarterback threw for 3,941 yards and 24 touchdowns, with only six picks and a 72.4% completion percentage—opposed to 64.7% last year, while Nussmeier’s landed at 62.4% in 2024.
More reason to believe in Beck, barring he’s as healthy as he looks? How about proven success against SEC defenses for years, which he’s since traded in to go up against the ACC on a weekly bases this fall.
REAL LOSS MUST RESULT IN REAL GAIN
The whole premise of “unfinished business” can get played out in sports, as it tends to solely focus on what a team failed to bring home—an emotion-driven sentiment rooted it what was lost and how that setback will be channeled into motivation the following year.
It might look good as a slogan on a t-shirt or social media hashtag that riles a fan base up, but it doesn’t paint a clear picture regarding personnel, areas the team improved in the off-season and how it’s going to have an impact on on Xs and Os.
Notre Dame will try and ride that motivation this fall after reaching the title game and coming up short—similarly to Miami last doing something similar two decades ago after also falling to Ohio State in a national championship game, albeit under controversial circumstances.
Of course the 2003 season—well-intended as it was—ended with two losses and a rematch against Florida State in the Orange Bowl as the Canes claimed the Big East and the Noles won the ACC.
Miami’s offense wasn’t the same without Ken Dorsey, Andre Johnson, Jerome McDougle, Willis McGahee and a handful of other key contributors who were NFL-bound that spring—Coker’s recruiting not up to snuff as Davis’s loaded roster dwindled down every year; Miami getting rolled 31-7 at Virginia Tech that season, while the offense stalled out in a 10-6 home loss to Tennessee when Brock Berlin didn’t have the mojo.
There is no “unfinished business” for Miami to hang their hat on after being a one-dimensional squad last fall; instead more of a “no business” being the conversation after the defense was exposed at total frauds.
Having all the pieces and coming up short, versus having to deal with imposter syndrome—it’s the kind of thing that keeps a driven head coach up at night, fueling a long off-season of working on every mistake and weak link responsible for wasting a world class offense in 2024.
Cristobal and Miami have their work cut out for them this season; from the opening weekend at home against Notre Dame, to closing out in Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving weekend—and every speed bump in between.
This program has notoriously faded down the stretch the past three years—the Canes a dismal 3-10 from that first November loss through the postseason—and another late-season face-plant will be even less forgivable in year four; the suffering ending here and now.
This squad and this coaching staff have been pulled through the ringer since Cristobal’s inaugural season.
Miami is that program everyone theoretically wants “back”; college football said to be “better” when the Canes are in the hunt—but it’s a farce.
Seeing the “The U” get hopes up and then smacked back down—that’s what the outsiders, rivals and haters really love … so even more reason for Cristobal to use this as fuel and to create more of that insulated us-against-the-world energy that has suited Miami well in the past.
They laughed at 5-7 in year one and that unfathomable loss to Middle Tennessee State—and they poured it on even more in 2023 after the non-kneel against Georgia Tech.
Last years it was outrage when pivotal calls in games against Virginia Tech and Cal went Miami’s way; the same ACC who hosed the Canes on the non-fumble against the Yellow Jackets, or a few would-be safeties against Clemson and Florida State—those U-hating, Tobacco Road blue bloods were now supposedly protecting UM.
That’s rich.
All was made right in their eyes when Miami shit the bed against Georgia Tech (again) and Syracuse; trotting out the same trash talk about never winning the ACC, while mocking missing the College Football Playoffs and a meaningless bowl game resulting in a slew of superstars not suiting up for Iowa State.
Year four. Jokes are over as the roster takes one step closer to greatness and this coaching staff looks to win big with what they have, in order to keep reeling in the talent needed to be a consistent contender.
Christian Bello has been covering University of Miami athletics since the mid-nineties. Getting his start with CanesTime, he eventually launched allCanesBlog—which led to a featured columnist stint with BleacherReport. He’s since rolled out the unfiltered, ItsAUThing.com where he’ll use his spare time to put decades of U-related knowledge to use for those who care to read. When he’s not writing about ‘The U’, Bello is a brand storyteller for some exciting companies and individuals—as well as a guitarist and songwriter for his Miami-bred band Company Jones, who released their debut album “The Glow” in 2021. Hit him on Twitter for all things U-related @ItsAUThingBLOG.