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Mario Cristobal Bluntly Shrugs off NIL Accusations Against Miami

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nate Lunak | Last updated May 19, 2025 4:19 PM ET

The Miami Hurricanes, led by head coach Mario Cristobal, have had an extremely busy offseason, which has consisted of landing a handful of talents out of both high school and the transfer portal.

One of their biggest additions has come in the form of 2026 offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell, who is placed as the nation's No. 1 recruit and was reportedly offered an NIL deal near $2 million, per On3's Pete Nakos.

Due to the high price tag, Miami has been under some heat, being accused of only landing players due to shelling out money, to which Critobal responded to during an interview with Josh Pate of CBS Sports.

"I don't know what value that type of noise or people really have," he said. "Actually I guess the value lies in the fact that you can take your son, you can take a prospect and say, 'You see all that noise and trash? There’s an example of what’s irrelevant in life and in processes of hard work.' That's maybe the only value to it."

“You see all that noise and trash? There’s an example of what’s irrelevant in life.”@CanesFootball head coach Mario Cristobal on critics who say Miami relies on NIL in recruiting more than other programs | ️ @JoshPateCFB pic.twitter.com/4rnDZpBtgW
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) May 19, 2025

Of course, Cantwell isn't the only player who has made headlines for an NIL deal with Miami, as transfer quarterback Carson Beck is set to make $3-4 million in NIL money, per Manny Navarro and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.

In total, Miami and Cristobal produced one of the best transfer portal classes this offseason, with a total of 20 commitments and a group that ranks No. 1 in the ACC and No. 5 in the nation, per On3.

Though, all of these NIL won't mean much for Miami if they can't start winning games and becoming serious competitors, because despite joining the ACC in 2004, the Hurricanes have never won the ceonference.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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