Miami’s roster is set up for success — it’s time for the Canes, and their coach, to deliver

It’s become the go-to line of critics whenever Mario Cristobal and Miami have enjoyed an off-the-field victory since the season ended in December.

It’s usually some variation of the following:

Sure, the guy just signed another top-10 recruiting class, but who cares if he can’t even take a knee?  

Or …

Yes, they landed one of the best quarterbacks in the transfer portal, but Cristobal lost six games in two seasons with Justin Herbert as his QB at Oregon.

It is true: Cristobal and Miami have enjoyed quite the offseason, especially since spring practice concluded.

The Hurricanes have signed five potential starters out of the transfer portal over the past two weeks, headlined by running back Damien Martinez, who ran for nearly 1,200 yards last season at Oregon State.

Miami’s roster — one Cristobal has been tinkering with since he left Oregon to return to his alma mater after the 2021 season — looks pretty good on paper.

The offense is loaded with established assets, and ACC Defensive Freshman of the Year Rueben Bain leads a stacked front seven. There are still some holes in the secondary, but it’s arguably Miami’s most complete team since leaving the Big East two decades ago.

None of you, though, wants to hear that, and I honestly don’t want to write another column declaring “Miami is back.”

So let’s skip all that and just agree on this: The Canes have enough talent to win the ACC, and if they do that, they’ll be in the new 12-team College Football Playoff. And that makes them national title contenders again.

The expanded Playoff will make a lot of programs “contenders.”

Florida State, Clemson, Louisville and NC State each won at least nine games last season, and each team brings back its coach and the majority of its coaching staff.

They’ve all got revamped rosters, sure, but each of those programs has been infused with talent from the high school ranks and the transfer portal.

Miami and Florida State, however, are the only two ACC schools that had top-12 classes in both categories.

Still, we all can agree there are plenty of reasons not to believe in Miami. Let’s take a look at some history:

• Cristobal is 74-73 as a head coach and 12-13 at Miami. That’s the definition of mid.

• Miami has had one 10-win season since the late Sean Taylor led them to their last major bowl victory in 2003.

• Miami has recruited top-20 talent for the better part of the last 15 years and badly underperformed. The program signed on average the 17th-best recruiting class from 2009 to 2019 yet finished a season ranked in the final AP Top 25 poll only three times with those classes composing the core of the roster.

• Of the 25 players to leave the program via the portal since the end of the season, 18 were brought in by Cristobal in the last two years and not by predecessor Manny Diaz. So math tells us there will be more misses by Cristobal among the 13 transfers and 27 high school recruits he’s added to the roster.

So, doubt these Canes if you so choose.

But here’s why I might advise you to take the over on Miami’s win total of 9.5 for the 2024 season.

• Cam Ward. He’s one of the most experienced returning quarterbacks in college football, with 44 career starts, 13,874 passing yards and 119 touchdowns.

Last season, Sam Hartman, Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel and Michael Penix Jr. started the year with fewer passing yards and touchdowns and a similar number of starts in college as Ward will have coming into this season — and their teams all won at least 10 games. Production and experience at quarterback matters.

• Miami is flush with proven production at receiver. Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George and Houston transfer Samuel Brown are the only receiver trio in the ACC coming off 800-yard seasons.

• North Carolina All-America running back Omarion Hampton is the only rusher in the ACC who ran for more yards than Martinez last season. The Hurricanes averaged 5.12 yards per carry last season — good for 16th nationally — with a revolving door at running back. Martinez will be complemented by big, bruising sophomore Mark Fletcher Jr., who ran for 514 yards and five touchdowns on a team-leading 105 carries last season.

• With Indiana grad transfer Zach Carpenter at center, Miami’s offensive line features four players with at least 13 career starts, including 2023 Freshman All-American Francis Mauigoa at right tackle.

• Bolstered by the additions of transfers C.J. Clark (NC State), Marley Cook (Middle Tennessee), Elijah Alston (Marshall) and Simeon Barrow (Michigan State), Miami’s defensive line includes six players with double-digit career starts. The youngest is Bain, whose 7.5 sacks last season tied him for fifth in the ACC with Miami middle linebacker Kiko Mauigoa.

• Miami added some much-needed experience to its secondary through the portal — Dyoni Hill (Marshall) and Mishael Powell (Washington).

• Miami’s special teams unit is led by first-team All-ACC kicker Andy Borregales.

Don’t get me wrong, Cristobal still has a lot to prove when it comes to winning on the field.

Miami has shown it is committed to aiding the roster build via the portal with whatever NIL funds have been needed. But Miami fans know it’s time to stop celebrating offseason championships. And Cristobal needs to understand when it’s time to take a knee.

The roster is as good as it’s been in a long time.

The Canes need to go on a much-needed revenge tour and shut some people up.

Or it might be the final sign the good old days are never coming back.

(Photo of Mario Cristobal: Sam Navarro / USA Today)