Miami’s Cristobal talks relationship with UF’s Napier ahead of season-opening matchup

Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal and Florida Gators coach Billy Napier are connected by more than just their season-opening matchup on Saturday.

The two are plenty familiar with each other from an earlier stop in their coaching career.

Cristobal and Napier overlapped on Nick Saban’s coaching staff at Alabama for four years, from 2013 to 2016. Cristobal was Saban’s assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator while Napier was the wide receiver coach during that time.

“Hard worker, really good person,” Cristobal said of Napier. “You know, it certainly was a pretty interesting collection of coaches back then [at Alabama]. We all took a ton of pride in our work and working for coach Saban and had a lot of success together. Certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Great family man. as well.”

The two went their separate ways after that but followed similar trajectories to get their current positions.

Cristobal headed to Oregon in 2017 to become co-offensive coordinator and then eventually head coach of the Ducks from 2018 to 2021 before landing at Miami in 2022. Napier spent a year as offensive coordinator at Arizona State in 2017 before becoming the head coach at Louisiana for four years and then taking over the Florida program in 2022.

And now both are entering pivotal third seasons at their current stops after two rough seasons to begin their tenures. Cristobal is 12-13 in two years at Miami. Napier is 11-14 in two years at Florida

Offensive identity

While most of the talk with the Hurricanes’ offense is understandably focused on quarterback Cam Ward, offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson has stressed that his focus is to make sure the team isn’t too one-dimensional.

That’s easy to do on his front with the depth the Hurricanes have at running back and receiver.

“We can attack in a lot of different ways,” Dawson said. “Being multiple is key. We’re going to run the football. We’re big up front. We’re physical. Our running back room is talented, our tight end room’s talented. Being able to do a lot of different things from the same personnel group is huge. Hopefully we can attack you in a lot of different ways, a lot of speeds. That’s the key.”

Guidry on Frederique

One under-the-radar freshman who has garnered attention inside the program throughout fall camp: Defensive back OJ Frederique, the three-star prospect out of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.

When asked what stands out about Frederique, defensive coordinator Lance Guidry on Monday said “probably his competitive nature.”

“I remember one of the first days that he was here in fall camp, he went up against a wide receiver, covered him and didn’t back down there,” Guidry said. “Your eyes kind of started opening. Just the ability to play the ball down the field and not panic, looking back for the ball, and not playing scared. He’s got a knack to him. He’s big. He’s more physical than you think. So as a freshman to come in and not blink like that really is not common. So we’re really excited about him.”

He said it

“What people don’t want to admit about this profession a lot of times is consistency over time wins. If you keep things consistent and the schemes are solid and the people get used to working together — and players are the same way; you have players over time running the same plays banking reps — repetition is how you learn things from day one. You know, you’re better at tying your shoes now than you were when you were a kid, because you’ve been doing it, right?” - Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson on importance of continuity on the Hurricanes’ coaching staff