The spring practice festivities will wind down for the Miami football team with its final session being the annual spring game on Friday night in Fort Lauderdale at the home of Inter Miami, DRV PNK Stadium.
Mario Cristobal enters Year 2 as the coach of his alma mater with a chance to redo a less-than-satisfactory debut. Miami went 5-7 last season, failed to win a home game after Sept. 10 and lost three games vs. ranked opponents by an average 32 points. The Hurricanes might have made a bowl game if the ball had bounced a little differently vs. Texas A&M or North Carolina; however, it was clear they would have to make significant improvements to reach the heights of competing for championships, something Cristobal aspires to do for The U.
Turning the page started with locking up a top-10 recruiting class in the 2023 cycle (No. 7 nationally and best in the ACC) that included some early enrollees who are already generating buzz. Cristobal also tapped the transfer portal for some instant-impact additions and rebuilt the coaching staff after a combination of dismissals and departures. All of the changes have created a lot of intrigue around spring practice, where Miami's second chance at a first impression for the Cristobal era is underway.
Let's break down the top storylines to keep an eye on Friday night.
How to watch 2023 Miami spring game live
Date: Friday, April 14 | Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: DRV PNK Stadium -- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Live stream: ACCNX
2023 Miami spring game storylines
1. An Air Raid rejuvenation: Hiring Shannon Dawson as the team's new offensive coordinator was a declaration of intent from a football perspective. Dawson gets to build his latest version of the Air Raid from the ground up, utilizing a combination of the quick passing game to get the ball in space with an emphasis on the deep ball for splash plays. The general approach is not dissimilar from what former Miami offensive coordinator and current SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee had in place for the 2021 season in which quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was named ACC Rookie of the Year after throwing 25 touchdowns to just six interceptions and leading the conference with 9.0 yards per attempt. There's no quarterback competition to note here, at least for the first-string duties, but the change in offensive approach is expected to spark a return to form for one of the top quarterback talents in the ACC.
2. New faces of note: Miami's 2023 recruiting class includes more than a dozen players who were able to enroll early and participate in spring practice. Five-star offensive linemen Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola — the No. 2 and No. 4 tackles in the country from this cycle, respectively — are part of that group, as is top-tier pass rusher and Miami native Rueben Bain. There's a ton of excitement about how game-ready some of these freshmen are going to be in 2023, and the spring game will be fans' first real look at the group. There are also several key players who are new to the program from the transfer portal: Two key offensive linemen (Javion Cohen from Alabama, Matthew Lee from UCF) and a playmaking linebacker (Francisco Mauigoa from Washington State) are among the newcomers in the spotlight.
3. A vibe check: Miami sold out its spring game in this stadium last year amidst the hype of Mario Cristobal's return. South Florida's native son and a piece of Miami's championship history leading the program was too good to be true, perhaps, as the expectations jumped way ahead of what the team was able to deliver in 2023. The Hurricanes were ranked No. 16 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll and picked to win the ACC Coastal, so to finish the year on the couch for the holidays instead of playing in a bowl game was an undeniable disappointment for those fans who sold out the spring game a year ago. Expectations will be lower now than they were a year ago, but is the excitement? Recruiting wins and apparent improvement in offensive philosophy can go a long way to keep the fans engaged, so we'll see how the vibes are when The U hits the field under the lights on Friday.
