Miami Hurricanes head football coach Mario Cristobal is known as an offensive line savant.
A former Hurricane guard himself, everywhere he’s been as either an offensive line or head coach, he’s shown a proclivity to recruit good O-Line talent and develop it.
And when he took over as Hurricanes head coach in 2022, one of the first players he signed was Anez Cooper, a massive guard out of Alabama.
“He was a priority guy from the moment we got here in Coral Gables,” Cristobal said.
Under Cristobal’s staff, Cooper developed from a three-star recruit into a four-year starter and a Jets’ 2026 sixth-round pick.
Cristobal has delivered a true brawler to Gang Green.
“He will beat you up now,” said NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein.
If you are a defensive tackle who has to line up over this guy for four quarters, buckle up.
“He is a power player who does a really, really good job of imposing his will on who is standing in front of him,” Zierlein said. “You want to swap power and get into a physical confrontation; he’s pretty good at that. If you want to battle him in the ‘A’ or ‘B’ gap, you are going to have a hard time against Anez Cooper.”
“There’s a lot of pride in everything he does,” Cristobal said.
Cooper says playing under Cristobal, an offensive line guru, prepared him well for the next level.
“I’m ready to take on the task,” Cooper said about jumping to the NFL. “I feel like the way that Cristobal runs his program, we do a whole bunch of NFL things.”
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