Cam Ward’s play — and touchdown celebration — have Hurricanes QB in national spotlight

As much as Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward tries not to focus on it, he has found himself in the national spotlight as the college football season hits the midway point.

That comes with the territory. Ward to this point has been one of the sport’s standouts. He has the Hurricanes at a perfect 6-0 halfway through their regular season and has been a catalyst for thrilling come-from-behind victories in consecutive weeks against Virginia Tech and Cal.

But Ward’s recognition goes beyond his play. He is also in the limelight for his touchdown celebration that is transcending the Hurricanes and extending through the rest of the college football world and even landing in other sports realms.

Ward’s celebration itself is simple: He puts his left hand over his mouth and waves his right hand up and down. Ward earlier this season the celebration is taken from a celebration that the Western Kentucky football team did in 2022. Ward learned about it from Ben Arbuckle, his offensive coordinator at Washington State who was at Western Kentucky prior to joining the Cougars’ staff.

“He [Arbuckle] told me the story last year and I started hitting it last year in practice,” Ward said. “And then after I would throw a pick at practice at Wazzu, the whole defense would start hitting it. That’s when I knew they messed with it. I just brought it over here, and then they got a pick off me at practice and the defense starting hitting it. That’s how it started.”

Nowadays, it’s not just Ward hitting the celebration. His teammates join in after touchdowns. Defensive players do it, too.

Opposing players use it to mock Ward, like Virginia Tech did after an interception.

Other big-name players in college football are doing it, too. Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders and a friend of Ward’s, did it during a recent Buffaloes game.

Florida Panthers fans did it during the team’s home opener on Tuesday against the Boston Bruins.

It has even reached the NFL, with San Francisco 49ers players doing the celebration on Thursday night.

“It feels good,” Ward said. “That celebration can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To me, it’s just a celebration, just something I like doing, but it’s a good feeling having them do your celebration.”

As for the players and teams that do it to mock him?

“It really doesn’t matter to me,” Ward said. “I mean, if you hit the celebration, you obviously must like it, so I’ll take it as a compliment. ... I’m all for other teams going to hit it. They must like it, so it’s whatever for me.”

If Ward keeps playing like he did in the first half of the season, the celebration will continue to come.

Entering this week, Ward leads the country in passing yards (2,219) and passing touchdowns (20) and has another three rushing touchdowns. He has thrown for at least 300 yards and multiple touchdowns in every game this season. He has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Quarterback of the Week four times through his first six weeks, is a midseason All-American by the Senior Bowl and is in the conversation for the Heisman Trophy.

He’s well on his way to breaking Bernie Kosar’s school record for single-season passing yards of 3,642 (done in 1984) and Steve Walsh’s school record for single-season passing touchdowns of 29 (done in 1988).

“That’s my quarterback,” defensive tackle Simeon Barrow said. “Man, that’s the Heisman. That’s the Heisman winner. That’s the guy. He’s him.”

Whether the accolades come is secondary for Ward. His focus is solely on what he has to do to keep the Hurricanes on their current trajectory. He has had to dig deep each of the past two games to keep Miami out of the loss column.

Against Virginia Tech, he led three touchdown drives in the final 17-plus minutes to overcome multiple 10-point deficits and help the Hurricanes escape with a 38-34 win to begin ACC play.

One week later, he helped orchestrate the second-largest comeback in school history, leading four consecutive touchdown drives to erase a 25-point third-quarter deficit in a 39-38 road win at Cal.

“I just try to do my part,” Ward said. “Everybody on this team has a job, but we’ve just got to live up to our expectation.”