Web Cam Ward and Kyron Drones are cousins and training partners

Andrea Adelson, ESPN

• Senior Citizen WriterSep 27, 2024, 07:05 AM ET Close ACC press reporter.
• Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
• Graduate of the University of Florida.Every week, Darrell Colbert Jr. gets on

  a group FaceTime call with the quarterbacks he trains to go over their performances, the great and the bad. Their ruthless competition throughout their offseason sessions carries into the phone calls, as they compare stats, throws and even interceptions.But today, there was no call.Not with Cam Ward and Kyron Drones set to square off against each other Friday night as No. 7 Miami

  faces Virginia Tech (7:30 ET, ESPN/ESPN App )in an essential ACC game. There is absolutely nothing for them to state until the final seconds check off the clock.How they got here speaks to the unpredictability that opts for life as a quarterback. Here we have two people playing the position from Texas, cousins on their mom’s sides, who were ranked very in a different way as potential customers in high school: Ward barely recruited, Drones a four-star prospect.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Yet they both landed where they were indicated to be, thanks to the transfer portal: Ward at Miami, as one of the leading early-season Heisman contenders, and

  Drones at Virginia Tech, where he lastly feels like he is home.If you had informed Colbert when he started working with Ward and Drones that a person day he would board a plane to Miami to watch them bet each other, he would have chuckled.” This was never ever supposed to happen,”Colbert said.Ward and Drones matured less than an hour from each other outdoors Houston however had no concept they were related up until high school. Even then, their very first introduction

  came as quarterbacks seeking out the right individual coach to improve their skills.As their fathers watched them work out with retired Texas high school coaching legend Steve Van Meter, they got to talking. Calvin Ward informed Kevin Drones that Web cam was dipping into West Columbia High. Kevin, a longtime assistant high school coach

  in the state, stated his partner was from a neighboring town called Angleton. Calvin Ward said his other half was from Angleton too.They each telephoned home. Sure enough, their better halves were second cousins and had actually grown up together. However as they aged and relocated to different towns and got busy with their particular households, they lost touch. Web cam and Kyron enabled them to reconnect, and the familial connection grew the relationship between the quarterbacks.After Van Meter went back to full-time high school coaching, Drones and Ward needed another quarterback coach to assist them. Drones gotten in touch with Colbert his junior year of high school in 2019 thanks to his coaching staff. Colbert, who is 28, bet Drones’offending coordinator and quarterbacks coach

  throughout his high school career, so he understood the ins and outs of what they desired Drones to do.Ward started working with Colbert too, in 2021, following a year at FCS Incarnate Word.”We absolutely got more detailed as we began training together,”Drones stated. Darrell Colbert Jr.”We absolutely got better as we started training together,”Kyron Drones said.

  “It gets real competitive. Real talking trash and picking each other’s brain on how to improve.

  We’re all trying to get to that end goal, which is the NFL. Ideally, we remain in the exact same draft together.” Certainly, Ward finished high school one year before Drones, in 2020. Stuck playing in a wing-T offense, Ward had so few opportunities to toss that recruiters never paid him much mind. The truth is, the Wards did not even realize how

  good Cam might be up until they started dealing with Van Meter. Ward had strategies to play basketball in college. But throughout among their early training sessions together, Van Meter pulled Calvin Ward aside.”Watch this, “Van Meter told Calvin Ward.Van Meter had Camera get on the ideal hashmark, and he had the receiver get on the left hashmark and run a 15-yard out. Camera hit him perfectly.”So he informed Cameron, ‘Look, you can most likely go across the nation and discover any 6-foot-2 shooting guard in basketball, however you’re probably one of the very best 6-2 quarterbacks that I have actually ever coached,’and he had coached 30-something years in high school, “Calvin Ward stated.

  “So from then, his mindset changed that despite the fact that he was not in a system in high school that can display his talents, there might be an avenue here.”Although Calvin crisscrossed the nation taking Camera to camps, the only scholarship offer he got was to Incarnate Word. So he took it.Meanwhile in Pearland, Texas, Drones also was an overlooked high school prospect early in his profession. He, too, dreamed about playing college basketball. However as a junior in 2019, he led Shadow Creek High to a state championship– with his dad on the coaching personnel. Soon the deals began putting in.Initially, Drones preferred going to Auburn. But then COVID-19 closed down hiring his senior year and he was unable to take any official visits.Drones wound up taking the last Power 5 deal in the state of Texas, heading to Baylor in 2021. However after 2 years there, Drones was still the backup and chose he desired a fresh start.

  He went into the transfer portal. Virginia Tech was the very first school that pertained to see him in Waco.”He was simply trying to find somebody who wanted to provide him a chance and be honest about giving him a chance, “Kevin Drones said. “We felt that instantly with Virginia Tech. We simply wished to have a chance, a sincere chance, not just lip service or you currently have a guy that you have actually assured or whatever

  . Just, just be genuine and sincere. ” Drones has 974 overall lawns of offense, with 6 goals and three interceptions so far this season. Brian Bishop/Icon Sportswire Drones got here in Blacksburg in 2023 and did not win the starting task right now. He became the starter only after Grant Wells got injured early in the season. Once Drones got his opportunity, he did not recall. Drones began 11 games last year, capping it with a Military Bowl record with 176 yards entering a 41-20 win over Tulane, flaunting why lots of considered him to be one of the best returning dual-threat quarterbacks in the country.Ward, on the other hand, had lastly gotten the Power 5 chance he always desired. But it was not Miami. Not yet, anyway.In two years at UIW, he threw for 6,908 backyards and led the school to a conference title in 2021. He transferred to Washington State in 2022 and threw for over 6,000 backyards in two years there, too. When Ward chose to enter the transfer portal following the 2023 season, Drones understood there would be a likelihood he would get

  to play his cousin this season.It simply took awhile before anyone knew for sure. Ward was unsure about going back to college. So unsure, in reality, that he entered his name for the NFL draft. His parents moved him into a house in Jacksonville, Florida, in January so he could begin draft preparation work with a fitness instructor there.But something nibbled at Calvin. Web cam had actually informed him before declaring for the draft how much he loved playing college football, and just how much more he had left to prove.”I believe I’m a first-round draft pick,”Camera told his father.The NFL draft board of advisers had him ranked as a middle-to late-rounds choice. Calvin reminded Cam about their conversation as the deadline to pull his name from the draft approached. Miami had remained in contact with Web cam, hoping he would alter his mind.”He stated,’If you were me what would you do?'”Calvin recalled.”I said,’This is your choice.’He said, ‘I wish to go to Miami.’If you could have seen his face, it resembled Christmas lights. “Calvin states that happened 2 days before the draft due date.

  He and his better half, Patrice, helped Camera pack up the apartment or condo he had actually simply rented. Webcam signed up for a graduate program at Miami online. Then they were off, driving down Interstate 95 with Camera driving his cars and truck and his moms and dads driving a rented SUV with Webcam’s 135-pound Rottweiler, Uno, making the journey together with them.With Ward signing up with the Hurricanes, preseason expectations soared. However they also skyrocketed for the Hokies, who returned Drones, in addition to their leading rusher, top 4 receivers and almost everybody on the offensive line. When the ACC schedule was lastly launched in January, Ward and Drones saw the dream match: Virginia Tech at Miami, Sept. 27. Ward is presently ranked second nationally in passing yards. Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire”I have actually had this game circled around,

  “Drones said.Colbert provided some suggestions, given that Ward and another quarterback who works out with them, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, played each other last year.”I informed Kyron,’Feel in one’s bones that the entire week Webcam is not going to speak with you; don’t expect him to say hi before the game, ‘”Colbert stated with a laugh.But Colbert added that the looming game sustained their competitors even more throughout offseason exercises. Perhaps more for Ward, who has never ever been shy about talking a little garbage.” Let’s state we’re doing a drill and Kyron tosses the ball a little high or a little behind,”Colbert says.”Cam would state,’Oh, that’s a choice versus my guys.’A great deal of times it’s little shots:’That’s a turnover on downs, now I’m going to score.’Webcam constantly begins it.”Camera Ward credits the workouts with Colbert, and training with Sanders and Drones, for helping him get better.” He’s one of the very best quarterback coaches in the game,” Web cam Ward said.

  “With me, Shedeur and Kyron, Darrell gets us right. He also lets us have our own little design in the exercises to how we play our game. He makes us focus on the little things, which’s what I seem like

  I’ve been much better at.”Ward has left to a hot start this season, ranking No. 2 in the country in passing yards(1,439)while leading undefeated Miami to 209 total points– the most the Hurricanes have actually scored in the very first four games of any season.Virginia Tech has gotten off to a slower start at 2-2 as Drones and the offense try to find their footing. Kevin Drones noticed Kyron putting too much pressure on himself earlier in the season and informed him to play loose and have fun. Up until now, Drones has 974 overall lawns of offense, with 6 goals and 3 interceptions.But as Ward stated after a win over USF last week, what happened up until now is unimportant. ACC play begins with a familiar face throughout the sideline, an extremely anticipated matchup in the Ward and Drones homes. Unfortunately for Kevin Drones, he will not be able to go to as he has a high school game to coach that night.But his spouse, Olinka, will exist. So will Patrice and Calvin. The 2 cousins will see each other before the game before going to sit in their particular group sections. Colbert will not have the ability to take sides. Rather,”Hopefully those guys can go out there and have among those legendary games, so whenever I turn on social media for the remainder of the weekend, I simply see Kyron Drones and Web Cam Ward.”Ward was, predictably, relatively tight-lipped when inquired about the chance to open ACC play against Drones.” I’m simply prepared to play the game,”Ward said.Kyron on the other hand?” Webcam’s visiting when we play Miami,”he stated.”[ I’ll] just reveal him who the real No. 1 is. “