Is Cameron Ward the next great Miami quarterback?

• Andrea Adelson, ESPN

  • Elder WriterMay 1, 2024, 07:05 AM ET Close ACC press reporter.
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2010.
  • Graduate of the University of Florida.CORAL GABLES, Fla.–

Cameron Ward confesses he is a natural trash-talker. He’s a quarterback. A group leader. He says getting his colleagues fired up is his task. This is especially real now that he is at Miami, where Ward moved in January to win a championship and improve himself along the way. In his view, there disappears time to waste. Every associate matters.During one current practice, Ward wished to set the tone early and saw the best chance on the very first play of the group period– offending starters lined up against the protective beginners. Ward handed the ball off to the running back. He then observed 6-foot-3, 305-pound defensive take on C.J. Clark with his back turned, pushing the pile.Instead of backing up the line till the play ended

, Ward added to the stack and bumped Clark. Difficult. Clark turned around to see who pushed him. There stood his 6-foot-2, 223-pound quarterback with a big ol’ trash-talking grin on his face.” Yeah, I’m going to make you practice today!”Ward shouted to him.Editor’s Picks

2 Associated”I talk the most out of everybody just because I need to,”Ward described.”I seem like

it sets the

tone.”Miami coach Mario Cristobal would understand how that looks and sounds. He arrived at Miami in 1988 as a player amidst the greatest age in program history, when the Hurricanes had the trash-talking down pat– then went out and backed it up, winning three of their 5 national championships from 1987 to 1991. That talk served its purpose on the practice field, as players raised the competition level among themselves before game day.Now getting in Year 3 as Hurricanes head coach, Cristobal thinks he has a game-changer at quarterback who can raise the program to heights hidden in years. The tone Ward sets has actually lifted the competitiveness and energy on the practice field and in the locker room, something Cristobal has worked to instill given that his return to his alma mater.”Those around him wish to play hard for him because they know he’s a flat-out baller with an extremely high care element,”Cristobal said.” He’s not going to tolerate B.S., let’s

simply state that.” If that all sounds familiar, it should. Miami’s finest groups had players just like Ward. Include a spring game performance in which he threw for more than 300 yards, plus the current portal dedications of RB Damien Martinez(Oregon State)and receiver Sam Brown(Houston), and it’s simple to see why excitement is building around the Miami program.But back on Jan. 1, none of this appeared possible. Miami Athletics The quarterback had invested the previous two seasons at Washington State,

beginning all 25 games and throwing for almost 7,000 backyards, while accounting for 61 goals. He put his name into the transfer portal in December and visited Florida State and Miami. Ward said

he told both schools he did not want to hurry into a choice and was going to keep all his alternatives– consisting of the NFL draft– open.On Jan. 1, Ward declared for the draft but did not sign with an agent.” I wished to hear everything, from draft grades to other people’s opinions to various coach’s viewpoints, “Ward stated. “That was a decision I needed to make to get all the details that I needed.”Ward said he was informed he would be a 3rd -to fifth-round choice. Though the news was disappointing, Ward thinks he could have worked his method up during the draft process. What he might not get out of his head, though, was what Miami coaches informed him throughout his recruitment.The offensive scheme under planner Shannon

Dawson is similar to the Air Raid offenses he ran previously at Washington State and his very first collegiate stop, Incarnate Word. Ward stated the coaches told him he could play quick and free. In his words, Ward said, he would be offered” the secrets to the kingdom.”With that in mind, Ward kept going back and forth about what he wanted to do. One day, he wanted to offer the NFL a shot. The next day, Miami would pop into his head.Ultimately, he chose he wanted to play another year in college due to the fact that he thought it might make him a better player, enhance his draft stock and provide him one more possibility to win a champion.” I was very open with every program that recruited me,”Ward stated. “It took a lot of time because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. It was among the hardest decisions

I needed to make, but Miami stayed the entire time. It occurred on God’s timing. At the end of the day, I’m here for a factor.”At this point, it was Jan. 13. Miami had actually currently signed a transfer quarterback in Reese

Poffenbarger from Albany and was looking at other alternatives. Ward made a FaceTime call to see whether the Miami personnel would still take him. He describes it as” among the very best calls” he had made.”One thing from the beginning, there was constantly a connection there,” Cristobal said. “Even when it didn’t happen initially,

it was like this is still going to happen. We haven’t played a game yet, so I try to consist of the excitement that surrounds him, but he’s a genuine one. “One play throughout the spring game in April completely showed that. Ward felt the pocket collapsing and a defender coming at him off the edge. He rushed to his right and, totally aware of the sideline, heaved a pass downfield throughout his body that appeared like it was gone out of bounds. In truth, Ward threw it perfectly to Xavier Restrepo right on the sideline. When Restrepo came down with the ball, Cristobal was so pumped he eliminated his headset and ran down to Ward to exchange a few words.It has taken years of practice and improvement for Ward to make next-level plays like that one. College recruiters mostly ignored him in high school. Ward admits that dipping into a school like Miami, with its rich quarterback history, was never something he imagined when his profession started. Miami Sports In high school, Ward’s

offense ran the run-based Wing-T, and he was provided couple of opportunities to throw the ball. Before his senior year, his moms and dads took him to as lots of camps as possible to attempt to get observed. Only Incarnate Word used. The Air Raid offense fit him well, as he threw for 2,260 yards, 24 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions in a six-game COVID-19-shortened 2020 season that was played in spring 2021. Ward won the Jerry Rice Award, offered to the leading FCS

freshman.After that season Ward started working with a private quarterbacks coach, Darrell Colbert Jr., based in Houston, an hour from his home town in West Columbia, Texas. Colbert had currently been dealing with Ward’s cousin, Kyron Drones( now at Virginia Tech), in addition to Shedeur Sanders and a number of others, consisting of Kyle Trask and former Miami QB D’Eriq King.Colbert said all the work he has actually made with Ward has been to fine tune how he throws, and he knew from their very first conference Ward had the ability to play at the Power 5 level.

“It wasn’t trying to alter his mechanics to a standard method because that’s not how he plays, “Colbert stated.”So doing things like that is refraining from doing anything but eliminating from him. Let’s perfect how you play.”The 2 have interacted since– mainly when Ward is back in town during breaks and the offseason. This past spring, Colbert decided to work Ward out with Drones and Sanders in Miami, as all three of their spring breaks lined up throughout the very same week. They were allowed to use the Miami practice facility, and likewise did one workout at the beach.December 2024@KyronDrones @Cameron7Ward @ShedeurSanders pic.twitter.com/WDXTO2vpQw!.?.!— Select Qb Sports(@SelectQb )March 12, 2024 “We wished to change the surroundings a bit, and it worked out perfectly that Camera was going to school in Miami, “Colbert stated.”We wanted to ensure they were remaining sharp and fit. “The physical attributes that made Ward the most in-demand player in the transfer portal last December are well recorded on tape, his arm talent and capability to escape chief amongst them.But on-field performance is just one piece of the quarterback puzzle. Ending up being a relied on leader is another. In the same method he won over coaches who did not think in his

playing ability, Ward has actually won over locker spaces everywhere he has played.Cristobal calls Ward an”alpha,”highly competitive, team first and in total command. That mix Ward brought

to Miami has actually raised the competitiveness of the whole team. Ward said he feels that trust already. “We’ve just known each other for four months, however it resembles we’ve understood each other our entire lives

,”Ward said.In March, he took every offending lineman– from the starters to the walk-ons– to a Brazilian steakhouse. He planned to do it again after spring ball. Left take on Jalen Rivers stated Ward wasted no time at all getting to know his new teammates as soon as he arrived on campus, jumping right in and “clicking with everyone instantly.” “In practice, you see that competitive spirit,”Rivers said.” When you have a quarterback that is competitive, it showcases a great deal of the traits that he has. When we score, he’s talking with the defense. He gets everyone ecstatic, and you wish to play for somebody that likes what he does. He’s favorable every day coming in. It’s a delight to be around. I’m thankful he’s our quarterback.”Colbert was likewise able to enjoy Ward go through a couple of Miami practices. At this stage in their relationship, Colbert stated,

“If anything, our regular stays the exact same, however when I’m out there I can see where he is missing out on a couple of tosses and why he is missing those tosses. So when we go back to training, we concentrate on that change.”On tosses 10-15 lawns down the field, if he’s starting to over stride a little bit, when we go in our training and we’re doing those tosses, I advise him, make certain we’re focusing on taking a much shorter step. It’s about discovering those little things, trying to find methods to make him more consistent.” That is the goal, obviously, headed into his final college season. In Ward’s view, his arrival is a win-win: Ward can improve in his final year in college and that, in turn, will help Miami at the most important position on the field. The last Miami quarterback to throw for 3,000 backyards in a

season was Malik Rosier in 2017. That also occurs to be the last time Miami won 10 games in a season. Thus, growing expectations.Washington transfer Mishael Powell, who played against Ward numerous times in the Pac-12, compares him most closely to former USC quarterback Caleb Williams as somebody who “can make that sidearm

toss, can make tosses from anywhere on the field, has the capability to scramble, a rival and leader,”Powell said.”Camera is the best quarterback in the country. I think he’s the most complete. I have actually broken top quarterbacks and I practiced versus who I think the best quarterback in the draft this year, Michael

Penix. Broke Caleb Williams. I played Jayden Daniels when he was at Arizona State. J.J. McCarthy, DJ Uiagalelei at Florida State now. I played against some lovely top-tier elite quarterbacks and he’s right there with them, if not better. He has a really high ceiling.”Powell points out Ward’s garbage talk has ended up being a staple. One day in practice, on a checkdown pass Ward completed for a goal, he tried to smack talk protective organizer Lance Guidry

. Nearly every day, he and Powell yap at each other. Powell reminds Ward that he won both their Apple Cup conferences; Ward regrets the truth he will not ever get a chance to beat Powell in a game, but includes, “I beat him more times in practice.” “I’ve never ever seen a quarterback talk as much as he does and then back it up,”Powell stated.”Normally quarterbacks can yap and after that they throw an interception, however he’s somebody that he’s so wise he can talk during the play if he wanted to since he knows the ins and outs of the playbook.”Anticipate that to continue during offseason workouts, as Miami prepares for a substantial season opener at Florida on Aug. 31. Though the programs no longer use a yearly basis, Ward is currently well schooled on the animosity that exists between the in-state schools. It may just be the ideal moment to talk … then back it up. “It’s all like out there, but we take pleasure in the garbage talk,”Ward said.”It gets us going, however I’m delighted for Aug. 31. We do not have to garbage talk each other, we can trash talk someone else.”