Miami Hurricanes Great Devin Hester On The Key To Pulling Off A Huge Upset Win Over The Indiana Hoosiers In CFP National Championship

It’s been two decades since Devin Hester tore it up while playing on all three units at the University of Miami, but the 43-year-old is very familiar with head coach Mario Cristobal.

During Hester’s tenure with the Miami Hurricanes, Cristobal was the tight ends coach during the 2004 and 2005 seasons in Coral Gables. Hester, who would emerge as the greatest returner in NFL history, said he Cristobal has always had the right temperament to be a head coach.

“Just steady, man,” said Hester in a one-on-one interview. “He’s never a roller coaster up and down. What you get, what you see from the moment you talk to him, the attitude of demeanor is just steady. It’s never different. You’re gonna get exactly what you see. That’s what I like about him. He doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low. He’s just calm and steady.”

The 55-year-old Cristobal has led the Hurricanes back to prominence, leading them to their first national championship game since 2002. The road hasn’t been perfect, with Cristobal’s Hurricanes suffering disappointing setbacks over his first three seasons.

This season itself was not perfect with Miami suffering a huge upset at home as the No. 2 ranked team in the country against Louisville, with Carson Beck – who was a Heisman Trophy favorite at the time – throwing four interceptions, including the game-losing one to seal the ‘Canes fate.

They also suffered a setback against SMU two weeks later in their loss, which many thought sealed any chance of Miami getting into the College Football Playoff.

Fast forward two months later and after huge wins over Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss, the Hurricanes are looking to finish the job with their first national title since the 2001 season.

Hester saw Cristobal’s leadership qualities back when he was a positional coach at Miami. He knew back then that Cristobal wanted to lead the Hurricanes as a head coach one day. Cristobal was an offensive tackle for the Hurricanes during the late 80s and early 90s, winning two national championships in the process.

He had head coaching gigs at FIU and Oregon before landing his dream job at Miami in 2022.

“He always had something special about him,” said Hester. “Just waiting for that great opportunity and getting a shot at it. He was always like that from from when I played at UM, the same type of culture, the same type of demeanor, the same type of attitude. He was always like that.”

In contrast to when Cristobal played for the Hurricanes and compared to their last dominant run in the early 2000’s, the ‘Canes will not be the favorites entering this national title game against the Indiana Hoosiers – they’ll be the underdogs.

Despite playing in their home stadium with a prestigious football history, Miami will enter this matchup as the clear underdogs, with the ‘Canes pegged as 8.5-point underdogs.

The Hoosiers have been on a dominant run, led by the quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Mendoz threw five touchdowns with no interceptions while going 17-for-20 in the Hoosiers’ win over the Oregon Ducks in their previous College Football Playoff game. The Hoosiers defeated the Ducks, 56-22, in a blowout.

When asked what is the key to victory for the ‘Canes in this game, Hester said it’s about pressuring Mendoza and making him uncomfortable.

“I think right now with this UM situation, we know we’re facing the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback,” said Hester. “These guys are offensively driven and are pass happy. He (Mendoza) threw for five touchdowns in the ball game, which is very rare. Offense is explosive. He likes to throw the ball, they do have a nice running back (Roman Hemby). I think the key to this game is we have to put pressure on him with Rueben (Bain Jr.) and those front D linemen. If we can contain him and put a lot of pressure on him and get him a little rattled, I think we’ll have a shot.”

Hester – who had six returns for touchdowns during his career at Miami – raves about their playmakers in running back Mark Fletcher Jr. and wide receiver Malachi Toney. Fletcher had over 1,000 yards rushing this season on 5.4 yards per carry while Toney has electrified as an early enrollee true freshman. Toney finished the year with a team-leading 99 catches for 1,089 yards and nine touchdowns at the age of 18.

“Most definitely,” said Hester of being impressed by Toney and Fletcher. “These guys are coming in, putting up crazy numbers right now for UM. Toney is playing amazing football right now. The best freshman college football player in the nation right now/ Fletcher is averaging over five yards per carry in the run game. The offensive line is playing incredible. Other receivers coming in, making big plays, and it’s what we need right now. You can’t just take out one guy, you have to observe the whole field. That’s what we proud of right now, is spreading the ball and making defenses focus.”

When asked what it means for the Hurricanes to return to prominence, Hester said “everything is going in our favor” and that Miami took “advantage” of their opportunity after sneaking into the College Football Playoff.

“As a former player, we’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Hester. “We had glimpses of it. Even last year when Cam Ward was there, I’m pretty sure we were in the top four at one point. We’re getting glimpses of it throughout the year. We’re just falling through the cracks, unranked teams slip up and beat us and really knock us out of the polls. But right now, everything is going in our favor. We were able to get in and when we got in, we took advantage of it.”

Devin Hester On Partnering With Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund To Help Former NFL Players

Hester, the only returner in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is partnering up with the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund as they team up with Southern Recipe Pork Rinds to support NFL players in medical and financial need.

The fund provides assistance to help retired NFL players and their families deal with medical and financial hardship.

“This is more for retired players, and it helps out and benefits with situations where a lot of retired guys who are injured and things like that, we donate money to those guys and help out and support those guys for the ones in need of help and support in any kind of way we can,” said Hester. “It’s more benefiting for the guys, the older guys that are retired that need a lot of help and support, so we’re just reaching out to those guys and trying to help out any kind of way we can.”

GGAF and Southern Recipe Pork Rinds are teaming up for the 17th Annual Pork Rind Appreciation Day for the “Be A Crunch Time Hero” sweepstakes. Fans can enter on porkrinds.com website to win a grand prize of two game tickets, airfare and a hotel to the 2027 Super Bowl in Los Angeles, California and a year’s supply of pork rinds.

“Just helping out with the guys, I know this cause it’s for a great cause,” said Hester. “Whenever you get athletes like myself that chime in and help out and support these guys, it’s always a great cause. Just kind of helping out any kind of way I can with them.”