Can Armwood alum Girard Pringle emerge as playoff X-factor for Miami?

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Dec 19, 2025 - 05:19

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Can Armwood alum Girard Pringle emerge as playoff X-factor for Miami?

Miami running back Girard Pringle Jr. (22) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during his team's 38-10 romp of Syracuse on Nov. 8. ©Marta Lavandier

As dusk settled on Miami’s regular season, Girard Pringle Jr. suddenly added a sleek, shifty dimension to a run game maligned for its lack of creativity.

One week, the four-star freshman from Armwood High was splitting practice reps between the scout team and second team. The next, he was splitting defensive containments before an audience of more than 60,000 at Hard Rock Stadium.

“He’s got some juice,” Hurricanes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said.

Yet there’s nothing particularly juicy about Pringle’s late-season emergence. To the contrary, the narrative surrounding the rookie with the juke gene and open-field burst has been as rudimentary and straightforward as a fullback dive.

“Just another example of if you work your tail off and you perform when your number is called, you’ll be rewarded with reps,” ‘Canes coach Mario Cristobal said.

Plain and simple. As a result, UM’s rushing attack no longer is particularly plain or simple, now that Pringle (5-feet-10, 190 pounds) has joined an ensemble featuring more imposing backs like Mark Fletcher Jr. (6-2, 225) and CharMar Brown (5-11, 220).

“He’s just different than all the running backs that are on that team,” veteran Armwood coach Evan Davis said.

Add Pringle’s fleetness and flair to the no-frills, between-the-tackles bruising of Fletcher and Brown, and the No. 10-seeded ‘Canes (10-2) just might offer enough ground diversity to keep seventh-seeded Texas A&M (11-1) off-balance in Saturday afternoon’s College Football Playoff opening round.

The Aggies surrender only 127.1 rushing yards per game and rank 19th nationally in total defense (309.8 yards per game), but encounter a ‘Canes team playing complementary offense (275.8 passing yards, 150 rushing yards per game) as potently as anyone. Miami, on a four-game win streak, has averaged nearly 38 points and nearly 7 yards per play during those four contests.

Pringle, afforded his chance when Fletcher suffered a lower-body injury Nov. 1 at SMU, has played a significant role in that surge, running for 302 yards and a TD on 48 carries (6.3 yards per carry) during UM’s four-game win streak.

“I don’t know any other thing to say other than, like, he’s performing well enough to get his opportunities,” Dawson said days after Pringle’s collegiate starting debut, when he ran for 116 yards on 17 carries in a 41-7 romp of N.C. State on Nov. 15. “He got his opportunity ... and took advantage of it, and he’s been doing it at practice. So, the amount of trust he built with us was very high.”

That coming-out against the Wolfpack was reflective of his high school breakthrough. A four-year varsity player at Armwood, Pringle began as a freshman receiver before shifting to tailback — and producing solid numbers — the following season. But he crashed the country’s radar in the Hawks’ 2023 opener against southwest Florida juggernaut Venice, running for a career-high 306 yards in a 34-25 Hawks triumph.

“That’s when the rest of the nation like, took notice of, ‘Hey, this kid’s special,’” Davis said.

Pringle would total more than 2,900 rushing yards his final two seasons and receive offers from virtually every major program in the country before signing with Miami. He appeared in only three of the ‘Canes’ first eight games, but a week after Fletcher went down he ran for 55 yards and a touchdown on seven carries in a reserve role in a 38-10 win against Syracuse.

“With what he did (against Syracuse), it wouldn’t be professional not to give him an opportunity to go out there and see what he could do,” Cristobal said.

His career game against N.C. State followed.

“I was prepared,” Pringle said. “I stay prepared, because I have great teammates that uphold me to a high standard, so I’ll always be ready for big moments.”

Bigger moments just might loom. Fletcher has returned to action, but Pringle received just as many carries (10) in the ‘Canes’ 38-7 romp of Pitt in the regular season finale, running for a game-high 82 yards.

“It’s nice that he finally got his opportunity,” Davis said. “And I know they’re good, he just brings a different level to it, man, he really, really does.”