Cam Ward path: How Miami QB went from 0-star to likely No. 1 NFL draft pick

USA Today

25-04-2025

Cam Ward path: How Miami QB went from 0-star to likely No. 1 NFL draft pick
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Miami QB Cam Ward's pro day leaves no doubts about No. 1 NFL draft pick
Cam Ward is feeling confident after his pro day performance. He tells the media why he thinks he will be the number one overall draft pick in April.
Cam Ward has taken the road less traveled to being the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Miami quarterback was a zero-star recruit out of high school with two reported offers from Incarnate Word and Texas Southern, a pair of FCS programs. His play was so impressive he made the jump to Washington State, before using his final season of eligibility at Miami, where he blossomed into a Heisman Trophy finalist.
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Ward is expected to go No. 1 overall to the Tennessee Titans on Thursday as the perceived top quarterback available in 2025. Not too bad for the West Columbia, Texas, native.
The 6-foot-2 signal caller boasts tremendous arm talent, some of the best in the draft in recent years. If he's able to put it all together, he certainly has the potential to make every throw on the field.
Here's a look at Ward's path to the NFL draft, and how the former overlooked recruit turned into a heralded NFL draft prospect:
Cam Ward college path
Ward's story wasn't one where he was completely unseen, despite going to a small school and playing in an offense that hardly threw the ball.
In a recent feature story on Ward's path in the Nashville Tennessean, a part of the USA TODAY Network, Ward's high school coach said numerous coaches came to see Ward throw but still didn't offer him a scholarship.
"Going into his senior year we had 10-12 times during the offseason where we had a tryout for him," said Brent Mascheck, Ward's coach at Columbia High School. "You name a college. We would go out there and have him go through every drill and him throwing the football."
The story notes that coaches from the SEC and Big 12 vetted Ward, with one Big 12 assistant apparently begging his head coach to offer Ward. The head coach declined because he felt Ward was overweight at the time, according to Ward's high school coach.
Texas A&M never offered Ward, but he blew away coaches at a camp where he threw alongside other high-end quarterback recruits like Jalen Milroe, the former Alabama quarterback who's expected to hear his name called early in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Former Aggies offensive coordinator Darrell Dickey told the Tennessean that Ward possessed impressive physical traits.
"The raw physical tools were off the charts," Dickey said. "The issue was knowing how things worked with recruiting. He wasn't being recruited by hardly anybody else. So you get into that thing of 'Hey, he didn't go to the Elite 11.' He wasn't a huge name."
Ward's high school offense ran the Wing-T, which is similar to the triple option, which is predicated on running the ball. Ward's high school coach said he was aware of Ward's passing ability but wasn't able to run a pass-heavy offense due to the caliber of players a small school like West Columbia had.
"In high school football, you can't recruit," Mascheck said. "Our team wasn't built to throw the ball 60 times. We didn't have those receivers. The one game we did lose (Ward's senior year), we dropped quite a few passes. I hate saying that because I never want to knock other kids. But we had to do what was best for the entire team."
While college coaches clearly missed on Ward, he lacked tape on the field due to his high school situation.
Why did Cam Ward transfer to Miami?
Ward transferred to Miami from Washington State to be in a better situation, for lack of a better word. He initially entered the 2024 NFL Draft, but backed out to enter the transfer portal to take advantage of his robust name, image and likeness offers, along with the opportunity to play in a stronger conference and boost his draft stock.
The move, of course, worked in Ward's favor as he is likely to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
'A lot went into that decision,' Ward said at ACC Media Days ahead of the 2024 season. 'That's probably one of the most stressful times in my life. Me, my mom, my dad. Every day my decision changed. Went into my parents' room. I told them one day I was going to this school. Next day I was going to the league, next day I was going to Miami. If I had to do it all over again, I would.
'The biggest thing for me is there was still food left on the table for me. I accomplished a lot of things at the FCS level, I haven't accomplished things I know I'm capable of at the Power Five level. I feel like NFL isn't going anywhere. God put me in this position to be a Miami Hurricane. I think it's been the best of both worlds.'
College football's all-time passing touchdowns leader accomplished a lot at the Power Four level in his lone season at Miami, leading the Hurricanes to a 10-2 record before losing the final game of the regular season to get knocked out of the ACC championship game. Ward finished the year with 4,313 passing yards with 39 touchdowns to seven interceptions to raise his career totals to 11,281 yards with 87 touchdowns to 23 interceptions at the FBS level. Those totals don't include his whopping 71 touchdown passes in two seasons at Incarnate Word, an FCS program.
The All-American quarterback originally transferred from Incarnate Word to Washington State for a shot at the higher ranks of Division I football. The opportunity to earn more money, plus the fact of Washington State taking a step down in competition after remaining in the two-team Pac-12 in 2024, made it an obvious choice to make the move to another school with one year of eligibility left.
Cam Ward stats
Here are Ward's year-by-year college stats: